Why Singapore is on the brink of fashion suicide

By Kelvin Chung

Why learn to dress up in Singapore?

Many would agree that Singapore leads in many areas in the region such as infrastructure, education, safety and stability and efficiency etc.

Nevertheless, when it comes to dress sense, many would agree Singapore is nowhere near the likes of Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea in the region.

On weekdays, take a look around you when you are walking on the streets of Central Business District, we will see that many executives have traded their formal outfits to less formal / smart casual attires.

Should you happen to be in the industrial areas, you may even find executives with more casual attires. On weekends, try shopping malls, restaurants and hotels, you will find people in T-shirts, shorts, sandals and flip flops more than ever.

I have heard many reasons from people staying in Singapore for not dressing up appropriately such as:

  1. Singapore is a tropical country with hot weather all season long;
  2. It costs a lot to dress up;
  3. It is not Singapore’s culture to dress up and as long as I have money to pay up when I shop or dine, why bother about how I dress?
  4. And More!

I beg to differ.

Firstly, most of the places we work or we go to are fully furnished with air-condition (of course, I do not expect one to dress up when you are at the beach or doing sports or strenuous activities); secondly, dressing up appropriately does not equate to wearing branded labels from head to toe.

A person will look good as long as the size and cutting of the apparel fits and one puts in some effort to mix and match; thirdly, we represent ourselves, our organization and our profession.

We are what people see or think of us through the first impression, be it you like it or not. One’s dress sense, work ethics, professionalism, wealth and other factors are not mutually linked.

However, paying attention to your dress sense is simply respecting the occasion and the people at whichever venue or event you are at, the necessary due respect. 

Brands and labels are not important in one’s dressing. In fact, portraying branded apparels does not necessarily mean you have a good or appropriate sense of dressing.

Most importantly, as long as one takes note of the occasion, venue, puts in some effort to mix & match, be comfortable and carries yourself well and with confidence, you are already a fashion winner.

*The views expressed above are my mine and not those of my company.

Join Singapore Business Review community
Since you're here...

...there are many ways you can work with us to advertise your company and connect to your customers. Our team can help you dight and create an advertising campaign, in print and digital, on this website and in print magazine.

We can also organize a real life or digital event for you and find thought leader speakers as well as industry leaders, who could be your potential partners, to join the event. We also run some awards programmes which give you an opportunity to be recognized for your achievements during the year and you can join this as a participant or a sponsor.

Let us help you drive your business forward with a good partnership!

Top News

Lorem Ipsum text in year 2025
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.

Exclusives

Cropping Issue on Responsive one
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. 
Artificial Inteliigence Testing
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. 
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum" (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..", comes from a line in section 1.10.32.
Lorem Ipsum Singapore Business Review
The text to display in the title bar of a visitor's web browser when they view this page. This meta tag may also be used as the title of the page when a visitor bookmarks or favorites this page, or as the page title in a search engine result. It is common to append 'Singapore Business Review' to the end of this, so the site's name is automatically added. It is recommended that the title is no greater than 55 - 65 characters long, including spaces.The text to display in the title bar of a visitor's web browser when they view this page. This meta tag may also be used as the title of the page when a visitor bookmarks or favorites this page, or as the page title in a search engine result. It is common to append 'Singapore Business Review' to the end of this, so the site's name is automatically added. It is recommended that the title is no greater than 55 - 65 characters long, including spaces.