Mandarin Gallery Blog

You may find it a little hard to believe, considering how it is as hip and fun as ever, but Marc Jacobs’ younger sister, Marc by Marc Jacobs, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year! After a full decade of offbeat, playful and cool style, it is marking this special milestone with a limited edition anniversary watch. Fans of the brand’s irreverent quirkiness, cute prints and street-chic aesthetic will be delighted with how this watch has managed to capture the quintessential Marc by Marc Jacobs spirit – youthful and trendy with just a touch of devil-may-care.

Produced for both men and women, the 10th Anniversary Watch features the signature Marc by Marc Jacobs silhouette and is available in either a polished stainless steel or black ion plated case. The brand’s iconic skull print, one of its most popular prints over the last ten years, is found on the eye-catching dial, which is topped by an etched logo top ring. The stand-out details of the watch include its striking lightning-rod hands, an over-sized 10 index and a Love Marc Jacobs etched inscription at the back of the case. To up the fun factor, each watch also comes with easily interchangeable straps in metal and leather to suit your needs and whims.

Whether you are a die-hard groupie or just a casual admirer of Marc by Marc Jacobs, the 10th  Anniversary Watch will be sure to be a treasured collector’s item. Coming in a specially designed box, it will also make a fabulous gift for a lucky friend!

The Marc by Marc Jacobs 10th Anniversary Watch will retail for SGD490 at #01-11, Mandarin Gallery

It may be Fall/Winter season on the fashion calendar, but that is no reason to give colours a miss. Armed with our trusty instant photography phone app, we have prowled the shops to bring you the latest in brightly hued goodness. Indulge the colour chameleon in you with one-of-a-kind kimono print handbags, pop coloured French clothing or a pair of hot pink leather sneakers!

Kokon Tozai
Made from beautiful kimono fabric, each piece at Kokon Tozai is completely unique. Offering a wide range of products, from apparel to bags and accessories, lovers of the intricately oriental kimono prints will be pleased with the selection. Filled with small pretty things, this is a great place to pick out something nice for a special someone.

Top Pick: Green kimono handbag, SGD69

Kokon Tozai is located at #03-29, Mandarin Gallery

Déjà Fan
Stocked at No. Fifty, a delightfully cheery shop on the 3rd floor of Mandarin Gallery, Déjà Fan is a fun, girlie and very cute French label that is curiously flying under-the-radar on the local retail scene. With a happy-shiny, retro-ish aesthetic, you can expect to find adorable scallop-hemmed shorts, sweet baby-doll dresses and pretty knit separates on the racks. The best part: most pieces (including dresses) go for under SGD250. What is there not to love?

Top Pick: Red & white polka dotted shorts, SGD99

No. Fifty is located at #03-08, Mandarin Gallery

JNBY
Hangzhou, China may not be the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of fashion, but with brands like JNBY, it is definitely putting itself on the map. With over 500 stores in China, Japan, Russia and New York City, JNBY is a modern street wear label that designs with the young and mobile urbanite in mind. Often architectural and always minimalist, these are clothes that can be mixed, matched and layered to great effect.

Top Pick: Pink leather sneakers, SGD199

JNBY is located at #03-07, Mandarin Gallery

You can always count on hansel to come up with clothes that are fun, pretty and just the right amount of quirky. Following its well-established tradition of building each season around a cute illustrated character, Ali Baba’s playful but faithful donkey take centrestage for the label’s A/W11 collection, Flyaway Donkey.

Inspired by the magical tales from Arabian Nights, it features earthy desert tones and Jo Soh’s signature hand-drawn prints, which in this case, narrate thrilling adventures involving magic lamps and flying carpets. Fans of hansel’s trademark femininity will also not be disappointed – luscious silk dresses and sweet knit cardigans continue to be a staple in the line-up.

Highlights of this wonderfully whimsical collection include digitally printed cotton/nylon knit dresses that depict the escapades of the aforementioned donkey hero, hello hansel’s bold and graphic Treasure print and voluminous silhouettes in the form of billowing skirts and harem pants. Mixing in pleasingly mellow shades like pink, sand and khaki with a neutral palette of black, grey, navy and cream, it creates a delightfully dreamy effect that is befitting the characters from One Thousand And One Nights.

Adding a cherry to the top of this cake, Singaporean jewellery label, WoonHung, has created an exclusive range of custom-made necklaces to complement the Flyaway Donkey collection. Crafted from inlaid wood of contrasting colours and textures, these necklaces feature the donkey and lamp motifs that can also be found on the clothes. They come in 14k or 18k gold chains, sparkling rhinestone chains and an assortment of matte chains.

Over the last weekend, new styles have hit the Hansel store. The Cut-Out Fit and Flare Shirt Dress (SGD169) is a cute but safe-for-work option while the Flyaway Donkey Knit Dress (shown above, SGD189) is a sweet, printed number that is great for a weekend brunch. Drop by the store to check them out up close and personal!

The Hansel Store is located at #02-14, Mandarin Gallery

If you are a fan of the unique and luminous beauty of glass and crystal ware, look no further than French crystal house, Lalique. With its new store at Mandarin Gallery, we now have access to the wonderful legacy of René Lalique, the brand’s brilliant founder whose revolutionary creations and techniques made him the master of Art Nouveau jewellery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Taking his inspiration from nature and the sensual female form, Lalique’s designs were audaciously original for their time and won him the admiration of his contemporaries and the patronage of high society. Infusing his naturalist themes with magical and mythical symbolism, he managed to bring forth an unconventional beauty in his work that had not been seen before. This pursuit of creativity, coupled with a traditional know-how passed down over a hundred years, continued to be at the heart of Lalique.

One of the greatest contributions Lalique made to his craft of glass and crystal making was to make available his beautiful works of art to people of more modest means. Starting with the bottles he designed for the leading perfumers of the ‘20s and ‘30s, he cleverly combined mechanical processes with the immaterial presence of the human hand and was able to produce articles of artistic merit at a considerably lower price. It is this fusion of innovation, craftsmanship and impeccable style that has sustained Lalique’s success over the last century and it is also these traits that will see it into the next.

Today, Lalique crystal is still produced at the same factory that René Lalique built in the Alsace region back in 1921. For a piece of this amazing heritage, seek out the Lalique store at Mandarin Gallery.

LALIQUE is located at #01-16, Mandarin Gallery with prices starting from SGD235 for a crystal pendant