Fluidity

Tell us more about yourself. 
I’m a student currently pursuing a degree in physiotherapy. Every once in a while, when I head out, I like to dress up, and I also like to play sports, football in particular. I’ve also learnt to pick up sewing in my free time as a result of the whole pandemic. A lot of clothes that I buy don’t fit me well, and I end up having to tailor a lot of my clothes. So one day, I decided to pick up sewing since it’s definitely a valuable skill, and I also wanted to tailor my own clothes. Eventually, I hope to make my own clothes too.

Tell us more about the style of clothing you’d like to design for yourself.
Ever since I started wearing baggier and more loose-fitting clothing, I’ve never looked back. I’ve also been experimenting with more androgynous dressing. I will wear skirts every once in a while.

One of the reasons why I have a growing interest in androgyny is because I want to push or challenge gender norms. For me, within the Singaporean context at least, men’s fashion is rather limited—we are limited to certain garments or certain types of clothing. But when I shop in the women’s section, there’s a lot more variety. I decided to try them on one day, and realised that it doesn’t look that bad. From then on, I’ve always wanted to experiment with androgynous clothing, but never really had the opportunity to do so. But now, with most of my classes being online, there aren’t much opportunities to dress up, so I’m using every chance I have to try new things.

What has sewing taught you? 
It has taught me to be patient. As with learning anything new, it’s going to be a steep learning curve at the start. I’m self-taught, and no one in my family sews either, but with the Internet, there’re so many ways to teach yourself to do things, and you just kind of piece everything together and work your way through it slowly.

I actually up-cycled this bag from a pair of pants I used to own that were too big for me. And the orange fabric was thrifted from Praisehaven. I stitched the two fabrics together and made it into a bag. It took me quite a while, probably about 10 hours of work in total, but it carries everything I need and it’s reversible, so I can’t complain.

Physiotherapy and fashion are so different! Tell us what made you decide to study physiotherapy. 
I studied biomedical science in polytechnic, and after graduating, I knew that I didn’t want to do something theoretical, like lab research, but I still wanted to do something related to science. I also knew I wanted to help people, and I wanted to do something related to healthcare too. Growing up, I played a lot of sports, and I guess that subconsciously played a role in how I chose the path of a physiotherapist.

When was the last time you tried something for the first time? 
Probably the first time I wore a skirt out, which was around September last year. Trying on clothes at home is one thing, but wearing it out is another. Once you step out of the house, it’s a totally different feeling.

What are you more afraid of—immense failure or immense success? 
I think I’m slightly more afraid of immense success, because there’s always this possibility that you’ll be arrogant or complacent. But at least with failure, even with immense failure, there’re only so many times you get knocked down before you eventually get back up. So in that sense, I guess it’s more difficult to handle immense success.