Global Creative Dialogues: Cross-university collaborations and knowledge exchange in fashion, illustration and technology

This article was originally written for and published in HKBU AVA Magazine #15 (September 2026) and is reproduced with permission.

From August to November 2025, “Stories From Our Wardrobe” brought together students from Hong Kong Baptist University Academy of Visual Arts (HKBU AVA) and students from the Diploma in Creative Direction for Fashion at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore.

Sharing a brief to translate a story of an item from their wardrobe into a zine, this collaboration was facilitated by academics Pixie Tan (LASALLE) and Wong Wing Shan (HKBU) and conducted through a hybrid model of virtual workshops and physical visits.

(Left) HKBU’s Assistant Professor Wong Wingshan conducting a virtual workshop with LASALLE’s Diploma in Creative Direction for Fashion students; (right) LASALLE lecturer Pixie Tan doing the same with HKBU’s BA (Hons) in Visual Arts students.

Designed as a layered, practice-based learning experience, the curriculum pushed students to think of their own relationships with fashion as object culture and materiality beyond consumption.

Students from HKBU (left) and LASALLE (right) working on their zines.

Starting inwards by analysing their own emotional connections to garments, they expanded outwards to design a narrative that could be shared with others. This culminated in the creation of zines, which flew between Hong Kong and Singapore for cross-cultural interpretation. The students even left handwritten letters for the zines they resonated with, starting a friendship beyond borders.

Copies of the letters from participants to each other on display at the Stories from our Wardrobe exhibition at The Fashion Pulpit.

Many of the stories touched on themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. In  Rachell Soh’s (LASALLE) zine, she traces her relationship with and longing for her live-in domestic helper through a worn out t-shirt. Wong Sum Ching (AVA) and Lin Lee (LASALLE) interrogate their own relationship with make-up and fashion, exploring the tension between feeling empowered and intimidated by the new identities these tools create. Meanwhile, Cheng Siu Ha (AVA) uses the mismatched clasp of her treasured pearl necklace as a metaphor for an unforgettable relationship that was regrettable.

Covers of zines made by students.

This collection of over 40 zines culminated in an exhibition at The Fashion Pulpit for Singapore Art Week 2026, bringing these private stories into the public eye.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by LASALLE College of the Arts (@lasallesingapore)