Singapore Fashion Designer Guan Min Is Back With A New Womenswear Label
A year after moving to Bali, this Singapore creative is reigniting her passion for design with a new womenswear label called Gamine Studio.
Guan Min is best known in the Singapore fashion scene as a designer, consummate Instagrammer, fashion PR manager, and cameos on the Netflix reality show Singapore Social. Then last October, she left our shores and headed for the sunny isle of Bali for a much-needed reset.
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A peep at her life on the Indonesian island via her Instagram @girlwhocriedwolf shows her at one with her true free-spirited self. Cue a day out on the beach with wild horses while in Nihi or exploring the waterfalls of the Sidemen jungle on the eastern part of the island – posts she cheekily describes as "more pseudo travel blogger-ish content".
"Moving to Bali was important because it allowed me to reset myself and move away from the influences of working non-stop and having excess – it was always 'do more, get more, have more, want more', which is not me at all," she tells us over e-mail.
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But behind the scenes, the alumna of Temasek Design School had been quietly working on a new project that's reigniting her ties to the fashion world: a womenswear label called Gamine Studio which makes its debut on October 20 on www.gamine.studio. The label is not her first stab at designing though: she was behind the now-defunct label Feist Heist.
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The Dua dress is one of Guan Min's must-have picks from her debut collection for Gamine Studio.
While Gamine Studio is in familiar territory with Min's rock-meets-boho style due to its skin-baring designs and the heavy use of a black and white colour palette, the Bali-based label reflects her ethos for slow fashion and a more hands-on approach to designing and manufacturing.
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Gamine Studio checks the box for having sex appeal.
She's involved in every stage of the production – from getting her garments ethically made in small qualities by local seamstresses and suppliers on the island to ensure that natural and eco-friendly fabrics are used. For now, there's a lineup of mini dresses, flowy maxi dresses, bandeau tops and shorts – something that will appeal to those leaning towards a more body-positive aesthetic and a timeless wardrobe.
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Ahead, we have a little heart-to-heart with this creative about her strong connection to fashion and nature, her big move to Bali and more.
How did you get your start in the fashion industry?
“I knew from a young age that I was always going to be in the fashion industry. I was always designing and making outfits for my dolls, then started making clothes for myself when I got my first sewing machine as a teenager, figuring out patterns and DIY techniques through blogs and forums.
Fast forward many years later and I have been in this industry for over a decade now, since graduating from fashion school. At 20, I set out and created a couple of clothing brands of my own (Lucyd Acyd and Feist Heist). Later on, I joined the Surrender group and was managing the public relations for their regional stores and brands under them including its multi-label boutique Surrender and Off-White."
What sparked the decision to create Gamine?
“I have always wanted to return to designing for my own brand, so it was really just a matter of time and weirdly enough, it took a pandemic for it to happen – it made me realise my life and career had plateaued and more than not, became repetitive and unfulfilling. I needed to go back to what I do best and was happiest doing!”
What was it like setting up a fashion brand for the second tiime?
“It feels like deja vu – weirdly familiar! A lot of it feels instinctive since I have done it before, but it also feels like an entirely new learning process as things move and work differently here in Bali, especially because of the language, work-style and cultural barriers. Trying to navigate and figure out everything on my own took a lot of time and getting around on my scooter, and with plenty of trials and errors! But I feel more confident doing this now and being able to create a stronger brand as a 30-something with more maturity and experience under my belt, as opposed to when I was 20-something figuring everything out for the first time.”
What is the significance behind the name of your label?
“The word gamine has always left an impression on me since I first came across it a long time ago. I feel connected to it in the way that it describes a chic and stylish woman who, though alluring and powerful in their own femininity, has a child-like demeanour and no care for rules or being too proper. That’s how I view myself and the women who relate to my brand — the mood and attitude that gamine captures so aptly. Also, it sounds similar to my name, Guan Min!”
Why was it important for you to move away from Singapore to Bali in order to develop your fashion label?
“I really wanted to be in an environment with a slower pace of life, where I could really take my time to work on the brand and have the space to create and be creative. Moving to Bali was important because it allowed me to reset myself and move away from the influences of working non-stop and having excess – it was always 'do more, get more, have more, want more', which is not me at all. I also knew that with Gamine, I wanted to be hands-on with it instead of relying on an all-in-one manufacturing solution type thing. Being on the ground here, learning and understanding every part of the process and building relationships with my suppliers, was really important to me as I need to know how my own garments are made.”
How has your personal style and journey influenced Gamine's design identity and brand decisions?
“My personal style has matured in a sense where I no longer care for the latest trends. I have not cared for it in a long time, which is why my previous stint in public relations for hype brands was very misaligned to my true self — it was a lot of fun, but it was not me at all. A lot of my style is seasonless, and I wear what I like and what works for me. The same goes with when I am designing for Gamine — I design what I like and how I imagine my own perfect wardrobe would be, curating what I personally feel is essential and a necessity, sans the fluff and promoting an excess for the sake of making sales.”
Nature and its elements (air, fire, water and earth) have a significant role in developing the concepts for Gamine's designs. Can you share more?
“I had an epiphany! Suddenly, it made sense to me that how we dress correlates with the elements, in terms of style and mood. For example, when I think of resort wear, I think of light and breezy, where you would want something airy and voluminous that would move with the wind for that perfect vacation vibe. The same goes with when we dress up for a night out or event, having the desire to feel powerful and sexy, like fire. Ever since that popped into my head, I could not ignore it and knew I was onto something.
Every collection from Gamine will be directly inspired by an element and the mood each represents, and it will keep continuing in rotation with every launch. Eventually, the concept is to have all the collections categorised by the different elements as individual product lines, instead of the traditional way of a new collection every season, which plays into the whole seasonless approach too.”
As the founder of a label that prides itself in its sustainable efforts, what is your take on seasonless fashion that doesn't compromise the Earth?
“Working on the brand with boundaries of what I can do with it has been challenging, it is like trying to be out-of-the-box while being inside the box. But the most important thing for me is that I can sleep at night, and as much as I love fashion, a lot of it is detrimental to the planet. So I knew I had to figure out a better way and make conscious decisions every step of the way. It is like turning the clock backwards and doing it in an almost rudimentary way – working with natural fabrics and materials, having an ethical supply chain, omitting single-use plastics entirely and finessing seasonless designs that are evergreen that hopefully, would not end up in a landfill.”
What sets Gamine apart from other slow fashion brands out there?
“My designs are very different from other slow fashion brands – they are cool and contemporary, unlike most sustainable brands that have a natural, wholesome and simpler vibe that caters to a specific audience. It absolutely works for them, but that is not my intention. Instead, I am trying to normalise sustainable fashion by capturing a more fashion-focused audience, who may or may not care about sustainability, with my brand and designs.”
How would you like women to feel when wearing Gamine?
“Like a true gamine! Powerful and magnetising in their own femininity, harnessing an ability to feel inhibited and free to express themselves as they please with no care for societal norms.”
What are your favourite picks from the collection thus far?
“It’s hard to pick, but my favourites would be Dua (a toga midi dress), Lima (a midi dress with a bare back) and Indi (a halter neck mini dress).”