Media release: LASALLE College of the Arts presents a new generation of fashion designers foregrounding Asian culture and lived realities

Thirteen fashion collections that foreground and contemporise Asian culture and fashion practices were unveiled at LASALLE College of the Arts’ 2026 graduate fashion show. 

Designed by final year students who are graduating from LASALLE’s BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles programme, the collections were presented at Cantonment MRT station on 14 May to an audience of fashion industry professionals, media and other invited guests. Mr Jeffrey Siow, Acting Minister for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Finance graced the event as Guest of Honour.

Themed DE:CENTERING, the show celebrates a new generation of designers who are reimagining the dominant global fashion systems and discourses—foregrounding fashion practices shaped by Southeast Asia’s cultural landscapes, material conditions and lived realities, rather than globalised industry norms or cycles of production and consumption. The students were selected to present their designs by a panel of representatives from the fashion industry. 

Dr Circe Henestrosa, Head, School of Fashion, said, “Our up-and-coming designers have boldly put forth what the future of fashion could look like. They are challenging dominant fashion systems, foregrounding culture, ecology and sustainable production methods, thoughtful design and both traditional and modern craftsmanship. I am deeply inspired by their work and I am sure our audience will be as well.”

“We are also thrilled to present this year’s graduate fashion show at the soon-to-be opened Cantonment MRT station. Singapore is a hub for much of the innovation coming out of Asia, a place where a multitude of cultures come together and are celebrated. We hope this show represents the potential that the city has to be a hub where new modes of fashion-making emerge.”

Highlights from the featured collections in DE:CENTERING include:

Influenced by Singapore’s disappearing communal spaces such as the Sungei Road flea market, 结霜桥 Gek Sng Kio by Eng Li Wen features silhouettes, fabrics and finishes that carry the imprint of heritage and everyday labour. In ​The Uneven Starting Line, Vanessa Lim examines class privilege in Singapore, expressed through textiles inspired by everyday life in the city. Through his collection SILENT PIROUETTE, Ahmad Hanif Bin Ahmad Jamal challenges gendered expectations and opens dialogue on identity and traditional gender roles. 

Nurul Izza Binte Rahmat’s ModestScape combines contemporary design with modestwear functionality and sustainable material choices, proposing modestwear that is forward-thinking, expressive and regionally grounded. Quek Yu Tong’s collection REBIRTH reinterprets Chinese mythology as a tool for envisioning the rebuilding of future identities. In DUAL, Kayla Adelia Rudiansyah deconstructs Western and Eastern classical garments, such as the kebaya and kain panjang, reimagining and disrupting their familiar cultural and sartorial codes.

Entrepreneurship and sustainability are themes in all the students’ collections, representing its integral role in contemporary fashion design. In particular, FRAMEBOUND by Anchanaa Ashok reimagines artisan collaboration through an ethical lens, merging material experimentation with systems thinking to propose a slower, more conscious fashion narrative. In MISFOLD, Viola Veronika embraces imperfection through the construction principle of displacement, responding to the fashion industry’s pressure for perfection and constant newness.

For further information on the collections featured in DE:CENTERING, please see here. 

The Equatorial Fashion Research Lab

The graduate fashion show follows the launch in January 2026 of LASALLE’s Equatorial Fashion Research Lab, an inclusive research space that advances fashion practice and theory from Southeast Asia in connection to the world. 

The lab aims to create a site for fashion theorists, researchers and practitioners to conduct research rooted in the region’s lived realities. Through this work, the lab will cultivate meaningful exchange across Southeast Asia, the wider tropical belt and the global fashion community. In doing so, it aims to nurture ecosystems that allow critical, sustained and situated fashion research to flourish.

Five students receive awards from industry partners 

Five students were also presented awards by industry partners Dyson and Takasago. 

From Dyson, Ahmad Hanif Bin Ahmad Jamal received the Innovative Hairstyle award, Quek Yu Tong received the Creative Hairstyle award and Foo Kai Lin received the Best Editorial award. 

Fragrance company Takasago presented awards to Jahnavi Gupta and Ayesha Mahmood, who will receive the opportunity to create their own fragrance. 

The LASALLE Show Exhibition 2026

Following the fashion show, all 21 collections from the BA (Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles graduating class will be exhibited at LASALLE’s Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore galleries from 22 May to 3 June 2026. The showcase is part of The LASALLE Show Exhibition 2026, an annual exhibition by graduating students from LASALLE’s Diploma, BA (Hons) and MA programmes.

Image courtesy of the Ministry of Transport