Do we need to be in Moscow for a “fashion summit” when Russia is still at war with their immediate neighbour Ukraine?

Singaporean designer Hayden Ng, also the founder of ASEAN International Fashion Week. Illustration: Just So

Moscow is currently hosting the BRICS+ Fashion Summit, which is self-touted to “become a center for business communication between leading industry professionals, experts, light industry specialists, journalists, bloggers, academic experts, up-and-coming designers and emerging brands from around the world.” It isn’t there yet. In the middle of a war, that aspiration could be deferred. Among the nations participating in this second installation of the event are 24 from Asia, including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Singapore. Our city is represented by fashion designer Hayden Ng (吳海登), who announced his attendance on Facebook, on 25 September. “Check me out,” he wrote! An accompanying statement, which appeared to be issued by him, stated that his participation is intended “to foster multi-vector cooperation in the fashion industry, strengthen business and cultural ties, and address pressing issues like innovation and sustainable development”.

Examining the website and socials of Singapore Fashion Council, the “official association for the textile and fashion industry in Singapore”, offered no announcement that we were sending anyone on a mission to Moscow. According to their About Page, “SFC champions programmes which build capabilities, expand Singapore’s fashion and textile businesses internationally, and promote environmentally-friendly business practices.” Expansion for our island’s fashion businesses is not mentioned in Mr Ng’s agenda in Moscow. He is expected to participate in the talk, Global Runway: Fashion Weeks on all Continents—a surprisingly weighty and expansive subject for the founder of the ASEAN International Fashion Week, last held in June at the lobby and the basement Oculus of the ArtScience Museum. The event, presented in partnership with Epson this year, was described as “the season’s hottest event, where every look is a statement, and every moment sizzles with style”. Mr Ng, too, presented his statement wear and moments that sizzled, based on one pattern and one major colour—a semblance of red.

Our city is represented by fashion designer Hayden Ng, who announced his attendance on Facebook, on 25 September. “Check me out,” he wrote!

Among the speakers that have gathered in Moscow, numbering a staggering 139 from across the globe, five are from Southeast Asia: Reynier Abello of the Cambodian label Armada by Abello, Ali Charisma of the Indonesian Fashion Chamber, Jay Ishak of Malaysian Official Designer Association (MODA), Cảnh Nguyễn of Vietnam Design Association, and our own Hayden Ng, who is the founder of ASEAN International Fashion Week (“international”, we have observed and come to the conclusion, is not a synonym for world-class) and “premier founder” of ASEAN Designer Fashion Showcase. This “open lectorium” is “held under the auspices of Moscow Fashion Week”, which is supported by the Moscow government through what is called the “Fashion Foundation”, an organisation that tasked to create a substitute for the now-defunct Mercedes-Benz Russian Fashion Week. Fashion Foundation is also behind the BRICS+ Fashion Summit, taking place in the capital city, some 842 kilometres away from an active war zone.

While the Russian economy is not expected to come to a standstill and business-friendly events would be organised, Russia is still at war with Ukraine. The conflict broke out in 2022, and since then, many Western brands, such as those under LVMH, have stopped operations in or pulled out of the country. According to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, “appropriate sanctions and restrictions against Russia” were imposed on 28 February 2022, four days after Russia attacked Ukraine. “These sanctions and restrictions,” the Ministry said, “aim to constrain Russia’s capacity to conduct war against Ukraine and undermine its sovereignty. ” They are primarily export controls on items that may be used as weapons on Ukraine and financial measures to prevent local banks and similar institutions from conducting pecuniary activities that could be considered to “benefit the Russian government”. There is no mention of restrictions on commercial goods or our citizens traveling to the land of the ill-fated Romanovs.

Hayden Ng (left) at his fashion presentation last month, during this year’s ASEAN International Fashion Week. Screen shot: ASEAN International Fashion Week/Facebook

There is no way that anyone can think that the Russia-Ukraine conflict has ceased or even experiencing a lull. There has been no declaration of the end of the war or the start of a ceasefire. Any dealing with Russia now on their own soil could be seen as negation of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its immediate neighbour, now in its third year. Or the total ignoring of an on-going combat that, according to news reports, number in tens of thousands in Ukraine for both combat and non-combat deaths. Reuters shared last December that one Ukrainian civic group’s records had reached the confirmed figure of 24,500 dead. Can anyone really refrain from acknowledging this war-time reality in order to push the assertion that “Singapore’s expertise in fashion and culture will be invaluable in supporting emerging designer brands on a global scale”, as Mr Ng has eagerly shared? But this is largely to appeal to the nations of BRICS, often seen as an anti-Western bloc. The designer is known for participating in fashion shows around the world. Is going to Moscow an opportunity to add to his tally?

Assuming that he feels no outrage at the incursions condemned by many, did Mr Ng not foresee the optics that could emerge from his gracing the Muscovite event? In less than 24 hours since his arrival in the Russian capital, he has shared 12 posts on his Facebook page, including photos of his hotel room, the gym (which he noted to use later), his breakfast, and his getting ready (including using a steamer on his blazer) for the first event of the six-day Moscow Fashion Week. His guilt-free enjoyment of the trip—thought to be paid by the organisers—was palpable. In the statement of his attending the BRICS+ Fashion Summit shared online, Hayden Ng noted that the event is “the largest of its kind for emerging fashion markets” and that among the many professionals that would be attending are the “heads of fashion associations”. He did not show up as one. Unless as “premier founder” of ASEAN Designer Fashion Showcase. That could be preeminent enough.