Lumiere is a collection that melds together the architectural wonder by Frank Gehry, the Guggeheim museum in Bilbao, and the soft flowy music of modern composer Dustin O’ Halloran.

Drawing inspiration from the sculptural and fluid lines from both subjects, the collection consists of drapes and an overall transitional colour change that reflects the colour changes of the museum’s titanium exterior under different weather conditions.

Modelled after a ship, Franky Gehry’s masterpiece not only has uniquely shaped fluid panels of metal that come together to form a canopy for the museum but is also reflected in the interior where much of it is wavy, to provide the same sensation of being on the deck of a boat. Thus, the collection is mainly collaged from the panels of the museum from different angles while the fabrics reflect the museum’s iridescent exterior and the soft music of Dustin O’ Halloran.

One key accomplishment for Dawn here was the excellence in workmanship and treatment for difficult fabrics. The coat is double-faced to simulate the leanness of the museum’s metal panels, with the front being lurex and the ‘lining’ made of wool. Lurex can be a particularly fragile and hence challenging material, which pushed Dawn to innovate new ways of strengthening the material to be stronger and still retain its lightness. At the same time, her ‘collaged’ look resulted in the use of multiple fabrics of different weights and colours, requiring a different finishing for each end. Different parts of the skirt were hemmed by machine, pin hemmed and faced and finished with hand stitching.

For this collection, the designer also collaborated with visual effects students to 3D model accessories. One that was fully rendered and printed in a mini size was a hat that imitated liquid metal and sat on the head frozen in time.

  Photography by Lenne Chai
Make up by Marie Soh
Set by Fawn & Moss