This Singapore design group is shaking up fashion with its rebel T-shirts and Gen Z thinking

The 13 members of Youths In Balaclava came together in 2015 as secondary school students and got a boost from showing at Paris Fashion Week

The collective has no sole designer at the top – the team works together and doesn’t accept investments from the outside

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Youths In Balaclava, a Singapore-based design collective, could be the breath of fresh air the fashion industry needs.

Published: 3:00pm, 13 Jan 2020Updated: 7:31pm, 14 Jan 2020

They’re young, restless and unafraid to speak their minds – meet the members of Youths In Balaclava who, in something of a career coup, debuted their first full-fledged collection at Paris Fashion Week in September.

Even before Youths In Balaclava made it to Paris, though, the Singapore-based design collective – whose interests also include art and music – was already making waves in the fashion scene.

The 13-member group had first been noticed by industry insiders when Britain-based photographer Ryan O’Toole Collett was introduced to the group. He had been commissioned by Dover Street Market International president Adrian Joffe to photograph Singapore’s fashion scene for the opening of the local outpost of the boutique.

Collett subsequently compiled a photo book about Youths In Balaclava, who were then featured internationally on sites including Vogue.com and Dazed Digital.

Looks from Youth In Balaclavas’ spring/summer 2020 collection.

Joffe, who has since become somewhat of a mentor to YIB (as the members call themselves), was the one who urged the group to hold a presentation in Paris to increase its global exposure.