Home Sweet Home

Tell us about yourself!
My name is Jules, I’m Vietnamese, and I’m a first year student at LASALLE in the department of creative direction for fashion.

Why did you choose to study in Singapore?
My dad used to work here in LASALLE, and my grandparents believe that Singapore is a very safe place, so they wanted me to come here. And also, Singapore is not too big, so I can’t run away (laughs).

Valid! Why fashion then?
I would say that I got into art in general pretty quick. My dad is an artist and he wanted me to study interior design, but I didn’t want to and chose to study fashion instead because I love how it embraces the human body. And it is also somewhat related to interior design in terms of textiles, materials, and shapes.

True. How has school been for you?
For me personally it’s pretty easy. I mean, it’s not very heavy on the work, and I’m very satisfied with the Singapore education system.

What do you enjoy doing outside of school?
I don’t have much activities outside of school. Mostly hanging out with friends, going shopping, and going to clubs sometimes.

How often do you visit your hometown?
I’m from Ho Chi Minh City, on the southern side of Vietnam, and I go back once a month. Back home, I usually just stay in and eat my mum’s homemade food. Singapore is pretty similar to my hometown, so I really just go back for my family.

That’s very often! Do you usually get to take time off school to travel home?
We have a project week every two months, and we get a week off to complete it, so normally I’ll finish the work and submit it before flying back to Vietnam for the week.

Oh, you’re a quick worker!
(laughs) I would say, yes! But for moths where we don’t have these project weeks, I’ll just fly back on the weekends.

What’s one thing you have to take with you every time you travel?
Apart from my phone, accessories, and clothes, I would say there’s nothing specific that I need when I travel.

Have you travelled much to other parts of Vietnam?
Yes, but I only do so during the semester break when I have more time. My favourite part of Vietnam is Hanoi, the capital. It was previously affected a lot by war, and there are a lot of museums. It’s also where the body of Ho Chi Minh is, and we are very, very proud of that place as Vietnamese. Every time I fly there, I like to just stare at it. It’s like our identity.

That’s really nice! Moving on, can you tell us more about your style?
Oh, my style? I would say it’s very complicated to describe. I wear a lot of Vietnamese and Japanese traditional clothes, and also like having a lot of metal elements on me, so I’d say it’s a mix of the modern and traditional, with maybe a little bit of rebellion.

I consider myself a part of the punk subculture, which is about rebellion, but I’m still very safe and traditional too.

What does art mean to you?
Ooh, what is art? Art, especially fashion, depends on our personal views.

Last year, there was this one item that showed up on the runway, which was this pee-stained denim, and it caused a lot of controversial opinions. I think normally, clothes will carry a story with it, and the people who are related to the story or who can tell the story from the garment’s perspective can consider it art, but for others, it’s just a piece of clothing.

Art is very complicated to describe.

How does fashion make you feel, then?
Fashion is like a physical way of describing a human. You can tell a lot about a person when you see how they dress themselves, how they want to be seen in public, and how they are defining themselves in cultures or subcultures. It’s like the visual identity of a person.