The goods
It took just one meeting with Front Row’s Ann Kositchotitana for 42-year-old stylist/fashion designer/lecturer Vik Lim to bring CRUX into being more than three years ago. It’s a collection of one-ofa- kind body jewellery fabricated from different pieces of material, which Lim painstakingly treats by hand. The result is a patchwork of colourful cloth – often with a twisted or pleated fi nish – that he turns into wearable art. The latest collection takes the form of synthetic necklaces and bracelets adorned with an eyecatching ‘hairy’ yarn (pictured).
The brains
The son of a talented artist, Lim, at 15, would spend after-school hours at a garment factory dyeing buttons. Post-National Service, he was asked by Dick Lee to join Singapore’s fi rst young designer boutique, Hemispheres. At 22, he won a scholarship and travelled to Tokyo and worked with Hiroko Koshino for two seasons. On his return in 1998, the inspired designer won the Asia Collection Makuhari Grand Prix. In 1999, he created the Cat in a Bag line, which so impressed Atsuro Tayama that he sold them under his retail wing for two seasons. In 2005, Lim called it quits, and focused on his current tenure as fashion design lecturer at NAFA and freelance fashion stylist.
The concept
With an eye for colour, prints and texture, Lim’s pieces always present an element of surprise and attention to detail.
Must buy
Neutral-coloured necklaces woven in with yarn (referred to affectionately by Lim as ‘fl ying hair’ in silver) perk up any dress or top ($180). The collection of around 20 pieces costs anything from $160 to $260. One size usually fi ts all, and there are strictly no duplicates.
Where to buy
Available exclusively at Front Row.