Unchartered Territories

You’re a fashion student! Tell us more about why you decided to pursue fashion.
I was deciding between architecture and fashion, but I had difficulty choosing just one, so I decided to try to incorporate both into a single practice.

It was harder to infuse fashion into architecture, so I chose fashion because I felt like I would be able to infuse architecture into my practice.

Were your parents supportive of your decision?
Oh, my dad hated it! He was like “You should go study tech, I think AI is a good field to explore now,” but I didn’t want to. My mum didn’t care. She was like “It’s okay to do what you want, just don’t complain about it when you’re older.” (laughs)

But thankfully I got into a diploma course in LASALLE even before my ‘O’ Level results came out, so…

How are you finding fashion school thus far?
I like it! It’s good, but the courses I’m taking don’t go very much in depth, so I’m also doing my own internships and working on my own brand outside of school.

After this, I’m hoping to go overseas to further my studies, hopefully till I get my Masters. I considered studying till I get a Doctorate just for the title, but I think Masters will be enough for me. I think working on thesis papers will help me to develop my ideas and my design philosophy. The actual degree itself isn’t that important because I want to start my own brand and not work for myself, not anyone else.

So what would you say is your design philosophy right now?
It’s to be myself—Van (laughs). But I’m actually not dressed in my usual style today. I’m usually very punk and black, ashy, and homeless-looking.

Jokes aside, I would say I’m just looking around, doing whatever I like, experimenting with new things that people haven’t seen before—more controversial stuff.

What do you like to do outside of school?
Oh shit, I have to expose my hobbies, but if I say design that’s bit too pretentious. Ah… I eat prata in my free time.

Is that your favourite food?
It’s not (laughs), but it’s what I just had for lunch. My favourite food is water. I eat to live because eating takes too much time.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Either running my own fashion brand in the UK, US, or dead on the streets.

I want to move overseas, but I don’t want to study another language, so not Paris. There’s also generally a lot more opportunities in the fashion industry in UK and US, and I think I can be exposed to a lot more styles and creative individuals in schools there.