It’s a little like a homecoming for Josiah Chua when we shot at his former class at LASALLE College of the Arts. Where mannequins acupunctured with needles stand at attention; sewing machines wait in rapt silence, there are ghosts of Chua’s past: of him and his peers sewing and cutting cloths.

Chua is part of the 2009 graduating Fashion Design class that consists of designers like Sunny Lim, Mae Pang and Pauline Ning. After graduation, as Chua was enlisted into National Service, his peers were roped in for PARCO next NEXT, an incubator programme to groom burgeoning fashion design talents. Held at PARCO Marina Bay in Millenia Walk, this was an initiative organised between PARCO Singapore and Textile & Fashion Federation (Singapore) (TaFf).

Despite the exclusion due to his conscription, Chua was excited for his peers. “During the weekends, when I booked out, I’d visit them at their booths and hang out.”

Eventually, the retail scene became a tough landscape to traverse, more so for local brands. PARCO next NEXT and, later, PARCO Marina Bay, shuttered. With this closure, Chua fretted about the loss of his friends’ outfits. “The local retail scene was competitive. For the amount of work that [my friends] put into their pieces, the prices that they were selling at weren’t enough in the long run.”

Previous collections were kept in storage and their prices often got discounted. Eventually, unsold collections were faced with the unkindest cut of all: disposal. Chua, who was already collecting toys and anime paraphernalia, stepped in. After all, what’s one more genre to collect, especially when they are the result of your classmates’ hard work?

Back then, as a student, Chua didn’t have the wherewithal and the funding to amass all the local pieces that he’d like. Approaching the designers that he knew, his classmates, seemed prudent. When he was able to earn his keep, Chua would revisit conversations with his friends about attaining their collection. He’d also resort to hunting down local brands on Carousell (an online market place).

Nostalgia is a huge factor in Chua’s obsession. The clothes reminded him of an era, a period in his life that represented possibilities. “Looking at them start their own labels told me that it was possible for me to join them at the PARCO next NEXT programme."

But that didn’t happen. Instead, Chua, who was trained as a fashion designer, found success as a stylist. He points to the lack of design houses in Singapore as a factor for his career change. “For design students, whenever there’s an internship, a lot of them would go for publications,” Chua explains. “Or work retail at Club21 or tailoring shops. Working in publications was a more viable option because there were many opportunities to work with editors and to find out how to market yourself.

"I didn’t choose to be a stylist but I don’t hate it. I enjoy what I do. Somehow the styling path found me. At the heart of it all, I’m still a designer.”

Chua’s collection started with works by his classmates but it soon included designers and their labels that he’d admired like alldressedup, Baylene, Woods & Woods. In a sense, Chua has the added onus of being a fashion anthropologist. In 2022, he and his friend, Daniela Tan (co-founder of the fashion label, MASH-UP) organised an exhibit called Capsule 2009. It was a visual archive of fashion pieces; over 50 garments, magazines and ephemera from the 2009 graduating class as well as from designers that they looked up to as students, were displayed. You can see part of the exhibit on the Instagram account (@sgfashionarchive), which has not been updated since.

The reason for the lack of an update is time; Chua is unable to set time aside for a meticulous archiving of his collection. Currently, 200 pieces of clothes are packed in boxes and suitcases; stored away in a corner of his flat. Recently, when he was unearthing what he had for this feature’s shoot, he was overcome with a compulsion to pick up from where he left off and properly catalogue his collection.

It’s a travesty if these outfits were allowed to disappear, no one else would know of their designers. That is why Chua steps up to the plate. That in his act of preserving this bubble of his past, he can also remind Singaporeans that their country has talent.

“If I don’t do it, I don’t know who the hell would,” Chua simply says.

(Clockwise from left-most)

Fabric neckpiece, KWODERENT. Panelled leather jacket, PAULINE.NING

“This Kwoderent piece isn’t mass-produced. It’s one of each. I went to [designer Grace Tan] studio and she had to open up her archive for me. It was eye-opening as it’s made out of foldable organdie fabric and green isn’t a common colour that Grace would use. The pauline.ning pieces were harder to acquire because Pauline didn’t want to let any of them go because she only had one of each design. Her patterns were so intricate. I kept inquiring about her key outfits and eventually, she caved in. She kept them in a large box and gave it to me. It felt like Christmas when I opened it.”

Printed silk georgette dress with rope hardware, ALLDRESSEDUP

"alldressedup is no more. [Jazz singer] Joanna Dong gave me a piece that she bought for one of her gigs. She knows that I was collecting local designers and she graciously gifted it to me. This is one of a kind; look at the print and the intricate rope hardware."

Tailored shirt with metallic panels, MILS BY SUNNY LIM

"When Sunny passed away, I asked his best friend [Lee] Yun Ting (designer of Episene) whatever happened to the rest of his collection. She said that they were stored at his mom’s house and his mom doesn’t know what to do with them. I asked if I could have them. Or if I sold them, any money that I made could be donated. I have his panelled metallic stuff and some that have cut-outs to reveal skin.”

Jersey and cotton tailored shirt, WOODS & WOODS BY JONATHAN SEOW

“Woods & Woods was a brand that I knew about but I was a bit late to the game. I looked up to Jonathan as the bench mark because he did Paris Fashion Week. Back when Woods & Woods was popular, I didn’t have the means to afford his stuff. Jonathan mixes unexpected fabrics. This shirt is constructed to look like a man’s shirt but is made out of a Jersey mesh material. Technically, it’s very creative. It’s not a showy shirt but it’s all about the details that I found appealing."

Panelled jacket with pleated darts, MAE PANG

"This is one of the first few pieces that I got that kickstarted the collection. Mae and I are close friends so her pieces were easy to attain. A lot of thought goes into her outfits; she’s so technical and it’s designed in such a way that it’s also suitable for our climate. After Mae, the collection just snowballed from there.”

Photography: Jayden Tan