Applying her strengths, Weiqi Yap turned her love for fashion and researching into a profession - becoming a local fashion curator, writer, and researcher. We spoke with her to learn more about her journey.
Story by Ong Xynthea | Photos by Weiqi Yap
When the word “fashion” comes to mind, one would normally think about high-end brands or leggy models strutting down catwalks in Milan and Paris.
In the eyes of 25-year-old Weiqi Yap, she sees fashion as a “treasure trove of history and culture”.
To her, fashion tells us about our past, present, and future.
Weiqi is a jack of all trades — dabbling in fashion curation, research, and writing for three years.
In her free time, she also manages @fashionondisplay — an Instagram page which she uses to dissect the different fashion exhibitions and trends.
Stepping Into The World Of Fashion
The core of Weiqi’s work revolves around challenging and expanding the definition of fashion. Whether that’s getting people to think about fashion in a different light or just seeing it in a Singaporean context.
To the majority, fashion may be seen as a frivolous thing. Turning that notion on its head while taking advantage of its frivolous nature, Weiqi aims to use it to connect with a variety of people.
“When you go to a fashion exhibition, everyone will always have something to say no matter what background you come from and that to me is so interesting,” Weiqi says.
All That Glitters Is Not Gold
“A lot of people think that working in the fashion industry is like the Devil Wears Prada.”
To her, the biggest misconception in the fashion industry is that it’s glamorous. In reality, a lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes.
In a Singaporean context, one of the main challenges she faces as a fashion writer is writing stories that confront certain national narratives.
“Whether it’s writing about LGBT issues or about fashion and protests, getting to talk about fashion more politically and provocatively is a challenge in Singapore,” Weiqi explains.
“Trying to break out of that mold that fashion is just runway, products and what to buy next season has been my main obstacle — convincing people that fashion exists beyond all these different spaces.”
Fashionondisplay: Her Ultimate Idea Dump
The core idea of @fashionondisplay is that it is a place for Weiqi to jot down her thoughts in fashion — ranging from exhibition visits to her general observations about fashion.
“@fashionondisplay is my research dump, my bank of all my exhibition visits,” Weiqi summarises.
During her first few months, while studying for her master’s in London, she was constantly visiting fashion exhibitions. Wanting to note down everything, she needed a space to document all of it.
“Instagram is a good platform that suited that kind of documentation since it is visual, like fashion exhibitions,” Weiqi says.
Currently, Weiqi aims to visit every fashion exhibition or retail display.
“As long as it’s remotely related to fashion or any sort of clothes, I will view and see how they are presenting a certain garment in an exhibition space,” Weiqi says.
The Next Step
For now, Weiqi is making plans to reacquaint herself with the fashion scene in Singapore.
“Even though I’m back for a year and a half, it’s not enough for me to know about a city’s fashion sense and because I was in London for four and a half years, it’s almost like I know London better than I know Singapore,” Weiqi confesses.
For those trying to do work that is challenging the fashion standards in Singapore, she suggests the best way would be to lean on the community for support.
“For me, it always comes back to me as a question… if I am moving the needle. Although it doesn’t sound encouraging, having that as a living question is enough motivation for me to keep pushing and doing it marginally – one percent is better than zero percent, ” Weiqi says.