Two models, two photographers and two brand owners join a teacher and a student, and a stylist and her assistant in an exchange of beliefs on their roles in the fashion industry.
Pictured above from left to right: Nicole Ng, Styling Assistant; Isabella Chan, Celebrity Stylist
(On Nicole) Top, Latui | Plop Apparels; Pants, Willy Chavarria | Sects Shop; (On Isabella) All clothing Isabella’s own; HAY Revolver bar stool, Cult Design Asia
Do you think your job is glamourised by the public?
Isabella: A hundred percent. A lot of times, people see just the end product without knowing what goes on behind. Like on social media, what you see is not what you get.
Nicole: Yeah, there’s a lot of experiences that I get through exclusively through the job. But there’s tedious parts of the job that people don’t see. Like sourcing. People may go like “Wow, it’s like shopping, you get to buy all these clothes,” but there’s hard aspects to it. Sometimes things aren’t as clear-cut as it can be. It could be as simple as sourcing a pair of jeans, right? Like people would think, how difficult would it be to get a pair of waist 25, straight cut, dark wash jeans, right? But if you’re suay, the whole of Singapore maybe would only have light-wash ones, and you’d only know after spending a whole day travelling. And usually that’s not a good enough reason for the client. You need to really be able to think outside the box for the brief.
Isabella: I’ve been doing this for four and a half years now. And someone the other day asked me, how do you keep going? But honestly I think I just keep going. Yes, it’s a job that challenges you both physically and emotionally. I think I’m someone who has a strong willpower, but this job has honestly tested me many, many, many times. The hours are long: I wake up at 6 to work, and come home after dinner to work more, sometimes until 6 again. And the cycle repeats. Consecutive days like that are not rare. There is a lot of backend and administrative work that people don’t see. Your schedule can be all over the place, and extend into the weekends or after standard office hours. I mean yes, there is a cool factor to it, you hear people talk about how cool it seems, and naturally, I think I did feel that too. I never actually thought I would get into this. But by chance, I landed my first shoot, with Iman Fandi as well — so it was kinda like a full circle moment having styled her recently for Baseball Bat. And that’s one instance of how satisfying it can be. Creatively or just in terms of the human aspect of it, the output is tangible.
Nicole: Likewise, I guess. But my sister was in the industry before I came into this, so I had an idea of the job before I really started. I saw the long hours and how busy the work could be, but from where I was, it was cool to see what she was working on, even if was just in an assistant’s role. It was like things that everyday people don’t get to do with their 9-5s. I’m still optimistic, I mean, I’m still navigating and learning along the way, as I go along. The industry is so small and competitive — something I guess I only realised after started working. And I have concerns, definitely, on whether I can pursue this as a career. I really enjoy what I do, but I feel like I need to be realistic. After all, I don’t have an education in fashion per se, or have assisted many other stylists.
Isabella: But I also feel like because there’s a small talent pool, I believe that we have it a bit better. Here, it’s competitive for gigs, for sure, but in other countries like Korea, it’s a lot harder to even break through. I mean, definitely, I didn’t take a conventional route of going to fashion school or having editorial experience, but the nature of fashion here is also changing and evolving. Now, having a celebrity stylist for events is a norm, and I guess I’m fortunate to have that open doors for me. The majority of my past assistants want to continue in fashion. But I mean, to be realistic, the industry doesn’t really pay well, honestly. And another dealbreaker is, and always has been the stability. I try to brace them from the get-go that the job isn’t always glamorous. But until now, all of them still really like it though.
Nicole: If I were have to do this for the next few years, with this being my main source of income, it would be quite pressurising in the aspect of stability, I agree. But likewise, there’s still a sense of passion that I believe can tide me over for now. And I feel like I haven’t been in the industry long enough to experience the pressure or stress, so I still am fairly positive about it. I’m not sure if I’m being naive, but I feel like an assistant has to assist for quite a while before being able to do paid projects of their own. And to even do passion projects, without funding, is a challenge. So there’s a concern within me on the steadiness of booking jobs constantly.
Isabella: You know, I never wanted a desk-bound job. And with what I’m doing now, you don’t always get to showcase your creativity, but every project is different and uniquely challenging to your creativity. And that’s interesting, and fulfilling, to me. I’m blessed to work with some artistes like Sonia Chew, who is always constantly looking to push. And so that adds to the fun; sometimes you get to play, and sometimes you don’t, but it’s a balance.
Is it worth it?
Isabella: Definitely, actually. As much as I complain and vent — long hours, back is breaking, knees are hurting — I still really like it. There are days where your body or mind may want to give up. But there are also days that remind me of why I love doing this in the first place. If this is something you truly want to pursue, always give your 100% for any project, big or small. You never know what doors might open or if someone might take notice.
Nicole: As long as you love what you do, dread won’t be an everyday challenge. Which is the most important thing to me. Getting to work is a privilege; but being able to be proud of your work, no matter how small a role you think you played, and being able to look forward to the next one, no matter how challenging you know it’ll be, I think is an even bigger privilege.
Photography Beng
Styling Manfred Lu
Text & Coordination Vanessa Grace Ng
Grooming & Hair Jenny Tan | Paletteinc. using M.A.C. Cosmetics and KEUNE Haircosmetics
Photography Assistant Alfred Phang
Styling Assistant & Production Coordination Lance Aeron
Once you’re done with this story, click here to catch up with our November 2023 issue.
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