With a revived interest in archival fashion that grew steadily in recent years, we invited the co-founders of milieu, Kai Jun Leong, Alfred Bong, and Leon Lim to talk about the importance of archival clothing in the new generation, the history preserved, and narratives documented, and how the resurgence of archival fashion proves to be an almanac of influence.
Can you tell us about milieu?
Leong: milieu is where we house a unique curation of clothing. Ultimately, we want the space to be a very educational platform for everyone to learn by sharing bite-sized information about what the clothing represents and the brand or the designer’s ideology of a particular time. We want to highlight these unique ideas that weren’t as predominant as before.Bong: Even if it was big back then, it’s important for us to keep it so it won’t be lost in history.
For example, Hedi Slimane’s Dior Homme was one of the key moments with his introduction of the new slim silhouette for menswear.
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Why is archiving important and what qualifies as an archival piece?
Leong: I think it’s important to have a tangible piece of a particular era or moment in fashion. Essentially this allows people to be transported back to a moment in the past rather than viewing images on social media.What we are trying to do here at milieu is to curate garments and ideas that are important to us.
Bong: Typically when you think about archive pieces, it has to be five to 10 years old and we came to the conclusion that it also needs to have some sort of relevance in the sense of its impact and influence on how people dress. Therefore it’s not really time-sensitive but rather time is essential in the process of making a garment an archival piece. The influence of the article of clothing transcends past the runway.
Why is this sense of ownership, curation and responsibility important to you?
Leong: Looking back on how I grew up, I remember there were certain stores that held a place in my heart like how fascinated I was with their visual merchandising and curation. Similarly for milieu, we wanted this brick and mortar store for people to come in for the experience. That is why this sense of curation is what we take pride in to showcase what we like and hopefully they resonate with our narrative as well.
Bong: I think the most important thing is the ideas that each of us has as an individual and we house them in this environment. I’m an avid collector of archive Comme Des Garçons and Maison Margiela for their unique construction and impeccable quality. For Comme Des Garçons, in particular, It’s interesting to me that though the runway pieces are usually very flamboyant, you cannot really see the details up close when you look at runway images unless you touch, feel or try on the physical piece, you understand the idea behind that goes behind it. That makes a real difference.
What is your most prized possession and why?
Leong: It’ll be my Dior Homme Autumn/Winter ‘07 Navigate boots by Hedi Slimane for his last collection at Dior Homme, That in itself has quite a big significance for me. I’ve had it for about five years now and there are people who recognise it when I wear it out. Its peaks as a common language.
Image courtesy of milieu.
Bong: My Craig Green jacket from Spring/Summer ‘17 is extremely versatile. Predominantly Craig Green is known for their workwear, uniforms and jackets. This collection was the first time that they debuted one with shoelace detail that runs through the detachable flaps.
Lim: A bomber jacket from Dries Van Noten’s Autumn/Winter ‘14 collection. I remember acquiring this at a time when tech wear and military garments were gaining popularity. The details on it were amazing and are like none other I’ve seen before, it’s basically like a piece of art. I can just look at it over and over again and I still find it fascinating.
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If you can own only one piece of garment? What will it be and why?
Leong: Of the top of my head, it’ll be the “She brings the rain” leatherjacket from Undercover’s “Open Strings’ collection which borrowed fabrics from the Brit punks from the late ‘70s. It resonated with me because I grew up listening to a lot of metal and punk music and I was inspired by the scene. More importantly, when I first started getting into the brand Undercover, that piece really struck a chord with me. “She brings the rain” is a song title from this band called Can, a krautrock band from Germany.
At that time, designer Jun Takahashi wanted to discover more sub genres of rock. The genre was developed in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s in West Germany and the movement was partly born out of the radical student movements of the ’60s. To me, it’s also an embodiment off using fashion and music together with a moment in history.Bong: The iconic cracked paint white Tabi that was done in the Margiela era. The item is an embodiment of Margiela’s work.
Lim: Helmut Lang’s Spring/Summer ‘03 one arm leather sleeve denim jacket. The first time that I ever saw this jacket was on G-Dragon and it looked beautiful. I’ve been trying to acquire it in white for the longest time.
What are some of the brands you admire and why?
Leong: A Taiwanese brand that is gaining traction currently, calledProfessor. E. Their branding and campaigns are very well done. The pieces are really wearable and versatile. Based on how I perceive their designs, it’s a nice blend of Takahiromiyashita The Soloist (who is also the designer behind Number (N)ine) and Julius. There is a dystopian feel to it.
Bong: Comme Des Garçons. Rei Kawakubo started the label in1969 and later founded the company in 1973. Kawakubo presented collections that were atypical of what anyone else did, then and now. The more mind-blowing fact to me is how she managed to stay relevant as a designer and also her business till this present day.
Lim: Kansai Yamamoto. The ability to create and design something so wild and futuristic, during his time when information and technology were scarce. was just incredible. While most would find his clothing weird back then, it is now considered cool. Time has proven that he’s a true visionary and his ideas and thought processes that went through each garment were just extraordinary.
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Raf Simons once mentioned in an interview that he is really interested in trying to understand the world and how it’s evolving and “how that reflects on how people look at fashion and at clothes. It’s changing a lot, and it’s a generational thing.” what do you think defines the fashion landscape in Singapore for the new generation?
Bong: It’s a growing scene and it’s exciting because there are a lot of different subcultures emerging. As for archival clothing, in particular,I would consider this scene quite niche but I can tell that it is growing because I do see a lot more new faces in the community. It’s definitely exciting because people are getting increasingly curious.
Leong: I believe that there are a lot of people who still follow a certain template in terms of how to dress and there is nothing wrong with that.
At the same time, it’s really endearing to see that more people are coming out with individualistic styles of their own. I feel people are more willing to experiment now and they know what they want. I can tell who they get influenced by and it’s really interesting to see.
What is the dream for milieu?
We thought about this together. Conceptually, we would like to build milieu into a souvenir shop or art gallery where we house great museum pieces and at the same time, there would be souvenirs to purchase where you can commemorate your visit here and you can bring a piece of history back home.
Once you’re done with this story about milieu, click here to catch up with our April 2022 issue!
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