The “light touch” creation of Singapore’s first university of the arts signifies a “tipping point” for the island’s cultural self-recognition, according to the head of one of its constituent colleges.

Steve Dixon said that the explosion of Singapore’s art scene over the past two decades had been overshadowed in a city known more as a finance centre and international transport hub. “Amazing” concert halls, galleries and theatres and a plethora of cultural, music, dance and film festivals struggled for global visibility in “one of the great success stories of the world”.

Just Let Us Live Lah is a series of installations created by BA(Hons) Product Design graduand Evan Tan to foster awareness and understanding among residents about Singapore's stay cat population.

The LASALLE Show Exhibition opens in galleries throughout LASALLE College of the Arts’ McNally campus and online from today till 2 June 2021, marking the grand finale of a creative education for over 800 graduands.

This return of the annual graduation showcase to a physical space, as well as its continuation on the digital realm, exemplifies the resilience and adaptability needed in today’s ever-changing world brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite downsized crew sizes and talent numbers on set, the BA(Hons) Film graduating class completed shooting and delivered eleven short films for industry viewing during a pandemic. These young filmmakers were applauded for their maturity and bravery in tackling heavy subjects such as life and death, as well as their ambition in visual storytelling.

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For their final-year projects, many graduates from LASALLE's School of Fashion were largely influenced by issues of sustainability, heritage and the pandemic. "Fashion is about the tangible and intangible embodied experience. After every pandemic, there is space for a re-birth and I think our students gave clear fashion statements on how they want to disrupt the current fashion system and reimagine it for a possible better future," said Circe Henestrosa, Head, School of Fashion, LASALLE.

LASALLE has collaborated with the Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) to unveil its latest exhibition #SGFASHIONNOW, which showcases contemporary fashion from Singapore. This project offered five BA(Hons) Fashion Media and Industries students the opportunity to curate a public exhibition and their final selection presented works from Baelf Design, Stylemart, Studio HHFZ, and Time Taken to Make a Dress to tell a story about craftmanship.

The Asian Civilisation Museum's latest exhibition #SGFASHIONNOW offers a snapshot of Singapore's contemporary fashion landscape and for the first time, five students from LASALLE's BA(Hons) Fashion Media and Industries programme were part of the curatorial team. Student Celestine Wong discusses what she learnt from this collaboration and shares more about how craftmanship is part of Singapore's fashion identity.

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BA(Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles alumnus Rena Kok is the first Singaporean designer to be offered a collaboration with Shein, one of the fastest-growing e-commerce companies in the world. The trendy China-based fashion retailer invited Rena to create an eight-piece collection and she saw this as an opportunity to reach new audiences.

In today’s era, the arts is viewed as viable career options for students. This is evidenced by a growing number of arts degrees being offered at leading universities. Reasons for this growth include proven successes from creative alumni, an increased recognition that the arts play a vital role in daily lives, personal aspirations triumphing well-paying jobs, and changing needs brought on by the pandemic.

BA(Hons) Fashion Design and Textiles alumnus Mazri Ismail mixes masculine and feminine elements, as well as materials and silhouettes, in his designs. His fashion label Maz also specialises in modular garments, where pieces can be worn differently based on how a user manipulates the clothing.