Freeflowing

Introduce yourself!
I’m Zhen Ning, and I’m just about to finish my National Service (NS). After that, I have an internship lined up for about six months, then I’ll probably be pursuing fashion design at a local school.

What’s one thing people might not know about you?
This is going to sound super lame, but I can whistle with my teeth, without having to pucker my mouth.

You’d be surprised—we don’t think it’s as common as you think. So why fashion design?
When I was younger, I read a lot of manga and watched a lot of anime. I mean, I still do even now, and I’m always fascinated by the way in which these characters dress because they all look so unique and special on their own. From afar, you can tell that these people matter in their respective universe.

Back then, I wanted to be more self-confident, and when I looked at these characters, I though it’d be cool to emulate them. So gradually, I became interested in fashion and delved deeper into this rabbit hole via Instagram accounts and posts that teach you about fashion and clothing in general. Quite a lot of my knowledge and interest stems from these Instagram accounts. It’s a very powerful tool to get people interested in different subjects and topics, and is a pretty decent place to gather knowledge.

What’s the first manga that got you hooked on fashion?
If I had to pick one, I would say it’s probably Bleach. The way the artist drew the various costumes and how every character looks unique and has their own identity is amazing to me. I also used to play a lot of Team Fortress 2, which is a video game that has super fleshed-out character customisation and personalisation. My interest stemmed from that as well.

Do you still game a lot now?
Not anymore because I don’t really have the system to support or play most of these games. Now my interest is satiated by keeping up to date with the latest news on such games, or watching trailers and gameplays on YouTube.

That said, there are a lot of fun games coming out, or that have come out over the past few years, especially in the indie scene. A pretty decent example would be Cuphead, which has a 1920s sort of rubber bandy animation style that’s really interesting and beautiful to watch.

Oh yes! It’s a lovely game, but so tough to play! Where do you see yourself in the fashion scene in the future?
I hope to one day make a label for myself, and start a little brand or shop out of it. After I graduate, I’m planning on working commercially for a few years to get work experience and stuff before embarking on my own thing.

Who’s a designer that you’ve got your eye on?
From a mainstream brand standpoint, it would be Saint Laurent’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello. I’m a huge fan of his work. I’ve actually kept up with each and every one of his fashion shows that he’s put up for the brand, even waking up at 3AM to catch it live. It’s really fun and I like the way that he designs clothes. It’s very androgynous, flow, and relaxed. There’s that luxurious feeling to it too, but not in a dated way. It feels very catered to modern audiences.

If you could pick anyone, dead or alive, to have dinner with, who would you pick and why?
Probably the late Virgil Abloh, the ex-creative director of Louis Vuitton and Off-White. I’ve got to say, his story and his success is really quite inspiring. I wouldn’t say it was rags to riches, but he definitely put in the hard work. It really shows that you can make it in the industry if you’ve got the passion and the heart, and the work ethic for it.