From pageant gowns to hats for society balls, is Singapore's "go-to" designer expanding his business?
Last month, designer Frederick Lee designed a hat for aesthetics doctor Georgia Lee to wear to the Tatler Ball. That whisper of a headwear, with extended quills that seemed to suggest the 翎子 (lingzi) or the pheasant tail feathers used in the headgear of 戏服 (xifu) or costumes of Chinese opera, was quite the show stealer. It matched the white, feathered Richard Quinn dress she wore. And just about a month after that dramatic moment, Mr Lee announced the birth of Frederick Lee Millinery. He shared the good news on his Instagram and Facebook accounts just an hour ago with a slide show of what is presumably a capsule collection and the confidence-affirming, found-all-over-the-Internet quote: "LEAVE EVERYONE WONDERING WHICH IS THE MORE INTERESTING PIECE OF WORK... YOU OR YOUR HAT."
There is nothing surprising in Mr Lee latest business move. To be certain, he has for a long time made hats to go with his over-the-top dresses. It would—understandably—be difficult to find headwear (if one is required at all) to match his evening wear, so extraneously decorated that they naturally encourage social distancing. Mr Lee, therefore, provides them as part of a one-stop service, such as what you might find in a bridal shop. Another recent hat was the spiky fascinator that Fiona Xie wore with her short-front-long-back, also-feathered dress that she donned to attend the Opulence Ball in Manila last month. Or the giddy, plumed ikebana that influencer Willabelle Ong had on her head at the Tatler Ball in Macao to go with the red flounced dress that Me Lee also designed. Overwhelmed, Ms Ong posted on IG a photo of the outfit and the comment: "Pinch me because I got to wear this couture masterpiece (including my headpiece) by Frederick Lee."
The nine pieces he showed on IG were seemingly a salute to ornithology, so Mr Lee moved between bird and nest, with, interestingly, a few enormous flowers. Bunga and burong in happy courtship. The designer, as many of his fans know (especially those in the theatre circle, from where many frequently collaborate with Mr Lee for on-stage and off-stage costumes ), has a thing for feathers that go way back, even ten years ago, when he showed at the now-deceased Fidé Fashion Week. He is probably the biggest user of plumes among designers here. And each hat is not a modest affair. One of them even looks like a decapitated fowl. But no matter how dense the plumages are or how well arranged they seem, they take the forms that are easily described as done-before. Or, already covered by 18th century European queens with nothing better to do than decorate their heads.
Mr Lee, as far as we are aware, is not a trained plumassier. Admiration is, therefore, natural for many, especially for those who have never been attended by a milliner before. The close-up we had the privilege to have of some of his fantastically feathered garments and hats showed that Mr Lee is especially adept with a glue gun, with affixing minus stitching, with turning craft to "couture". One designer said admirably of Mr Lee's capability, "我真係服咗佢 (in Cantonese, I have to give it to him). Nobody is doing what he does. And he is doing everything himself"—as evidenced by his prolific social media posts. Indeed, rare is the designer who is a hat-maker, and a highly fruitful one. The late Isabella Blow once said, "fashion is a huge room filled with elegance and obscenity, beauty and ugliness love and hate." But, as we see, there's always space for a hat, feathered or flowered.
Photos: fredericklee_couture/Instagram
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