A Visual Diary Of Youths In Balaclava's First Fashion Show At Paris Fashion Week
It’s been eight years since the largely self-taught local label Youths In Balaclava introduced itself and its audacious, counter culture-influenced brand of fashion to Singapore and then the globe (15 stockists and counting including cult multi-label retailers such as Matches, Ssense and the Dover Street Market network). Yet, the oldest in this seven-man team is just 28 years old; the youngest 25; and the collective even staged its very first runway show in Paris during the recent Spring Summer 2024 Men’s Fashion Week. Here’s a peek at their visual diary from that milestone and a reminder of how, for them, the day remains young.
Titled Hybrid Moments, the Spring Summer 2024 collection by Singapore label Youths In Balaclava (YIB) is inspired by the harshness of today’s realities and how, despite that, one can find “comfort in the chaos and practicality in darkness”. “This is not just about fashion – it’s about survival. It’s about taking what we have and making the most of it,” reads the press release.
Both the show – held within an intimate exhibition space in the residential and upscale seventh arrondissement in Paris – and the installation set‐up for the showroom presentation revolved around the concept of a staged Robin Hood‐style heist. (Friends of the collective dressed up as robbers and “broke into” the showspace to unlock a chest of fake bills only to distribute them to guests.)
The witty slogan for Spring/Summer 2024 reads: "Youths In Balaclava School of Hard Knocks"
The Spring Summer 2024 collection is heavy on camo separates (“a reminder of the never‐ending war that plagues our world”) and outfits that contrast the formal with the casual, and luxury with street (think elegant tailored jackets paired with combat trousers or joggers). Standouts include an all‐silver armour‐like leather‐jacket‐and‐pants combination as well as collegiate‐style tees with the brand’s trademark glib slogans.
The 28-look collection for Spring/Summer 2024 comprises YIB signatures such as camo prints and street-meets-corporate ensembles
For the guys in the collective, all of this is just the start. Requesting to be quoted as a collective, they say: “We’ve never had an end goal in mind. Being a youth is an attitude and having the drive to take the next step in this journey made up of endless flights of stairs.”
Backstage at the show, which was held in a cosy intimate exhibition space in the posh seventh arrondissement in Paris
The props for the staged heist included a manifesto and a poster that read, "As long as we don't die, this is gonna be one hell of a story!"
The team’s homely breakfast of instant noodles
YIB operations lead Mohamed Hanif hamming it up outside the show venue “for the lulz”
The collective’s cool kid band of guests and models post‐show
Models backstage before the show
This armour-like jacket is one of the standouts of the show
Guests who attended the show were also gifted canvas money bags – meant to be used to contain the fake bills distributed to them after the staged heist, the idea was that showgoers, too, were an integral part of the entire experience as well as the YIB community.
The fake bills that were handed out to the guests
The actors of the staged heist for the show donned this jumpsuit sprayed with the $ sign
YIB's artistic director Taufiq Iskandar (right) sorting the lineup for the runway show
The YIB staff uniform for their debut Paris show
This article is adapted from a story that first appeared in the August 2023 Youth! Edition of FEMALE