From the Drawing Board
Simone Irani, designer and founder of Simone Irani. Photograph courtesy of Simone Irani.
Goh Ling Ling, designer and founder of LINGWU. Photograph courtesy of LINGWU.
Josh Leong, designer, shoemaker, and co-founder of Palola. Photograph courtesy of Josh Leong.
From impeccable craftsmanship to modernism and unique sarees, we explore the ingredients that shape a brand’s iconic style through conversations with three designers. We dive into personal flair, sources of inspiration, the desire for longevity, and more, as they lend us insight into what lies behind the creation of distinctive products.
First, meet the featured designers of our featured brands:
Self-taught designer and founder of her own eponymous label, Simone Irani, is a familiar face at Boutiques as one of our longest-running vendors. Her breezy resort wear is known for peppy prints, dreamy lengths, and one-of-kind dresses crafted from saris.
Goh Ling Ling is the powerhouse behind another well-established homegrown label, LINGWU. Recognised for its understated designs made from decadent exotic leathers, the brand’s luxury bags have long become a cult favourite among working professionals.
And finally, there’s Josh Leong — designer, shoemaker, and co-founder of women’s footwear label, Palola. The label represents a diversion from his men’s shoes-focused background, but has since garnered similar reputability for its made-to-order service and sleek, impressively comfortable footwear handcrafted in a traditional Italian method.
The FRANCOISE bag from LINGWU’s first collection. Not only were all pieces in black, only lamb leather was used — a personal favourite of ling’s for its soft and supple quality. Photograph courtesy of LINGWU.
The KAREN E. bag from LINGWU’s first collection. While only a handful of styles were introduced, the collection saw great success and was picked up by many stores in Japan. Photograph courtesy of LINGWU.
How has personal style shaped your brand?
Ling: I can’t emphasise enough the importance of eating, sleeping, and breathing your brand because when brand founders do this, it becomes very apparent through how detailed and consistent their designs are. In fact, I designed the very first LINGWU collection purely based on what I liked as the LINGWU style is, in essence, my personal style as well. I am very drawn to vintage designs with a minimal and modernist aesthetic, like my TOGO® sofa by Ligne Roset and an understated watch by Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe for Georg Jensen. These pieces were designed in the 60s, but are so simple and functional that they can last a lifetime. This is something I constantly strive for as a designer.
LINGWU now offers a wider range of designs, which has been influenced by my own growth over the years. I went from someone who didn’t have kids at first to a mother of three. I’ve been able to use my experiences and lifestyle changes of being a mum to better understand and cater to what my customers need and want, since many are working mothers themselves.
Simone at a flower market in Jaipur. Photograph courtesy of Simone Irani.
Simone at a fresh fruit market in Bali. Photograph courtesy of Simone Irani.
Simone: Personally, I don't like something you have to overthink or that takes up too much time and effort, and this has aligned with the Simone Irani style. I am very much about breezy and easy travel pieces you can just grab from your wardrobe, throw on, and go. Of course, we have adapted over the years and listened to what our customers need and how people's lifestyles have changed. But at its heart, the brand is still always about effortless and timeless pieces.
I've always loved everything traditional as well, be it fabrics or craftsmanship, but these items also have a more interesting story if you give them your own spin. This is something that has characterised Simone Irani’s designs. Mixing the old and new and incorporating a modern twist is natural to me because it gives the traditional another perspective, while making it more relevant to our lives today.
Palola’s early prototypes for their signature ballet flats. The mould the shoes are constructed on is called a shoe last. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Josh: This was quite a challenge. When we first started Palola, Jeremiah (my business partner) and I, being men, didn’t actually know what women wanted in their shoes in terms of comfort, the aesthetic, and even the colours. Since both of us aren't designers by trade, our skills and backgrounds were also in making the best product possible, and not designing something from scratch. One of the funniest stories I recall is showing the initial prototypes of the Palola ballet flat to our female friends. They told us the shoes looked like they were designed by two straight men, implying that the only people who would wear them were guys. So we had to completely relook the way we designed everything, from the choice of leather to the colours that we chose and the silhouette.
Ling’s mood board. Photograph courtesy of LINGWU.
What inspires you?
Ling: Architectural design has always been a constant source of inspiration for me. One of my favourite architects of all time is Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. He is one of the most influential architects of the 20th century and invented the enduring architectural style of the era: Modernism. He also worked alongside two other titans of the style: Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier. Their minimalist styles have been a constant revelation through my design career. As Mies Van Der Rohe said, I believe less is more.
A Palola shoe being assembled on its last. All shoes are hand crafted in-house by Palola’s team of six. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
According to Josh, a good pair of shoes should offer an adequate amount support, be it around the heel area or the arch of the foot. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
A seamless back is also iconic of all Palola shoes. Unlike when machinery is used, handcrafting every pair the traditional Italian way allows excess leather to be pulled in and tucked underneath the shoe, which reduces the need for a seam. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Josh: For me, understanding why certain things look nice and why certain things don't is my biggest inspiration. This drives my design process, which is very different from that of a classic designer. Rather than coming up with a completely new design, I start by looking at all the shoes out there in the market, filtering out those I think look good, and then seeing how I can incorporate elements I like from them into something I can truly call my own.
Simone at the Sri Madhavendra Bhawan palace in the Nahargarh Fort at Jaipur, India. Its prominent frescoes and architecture were a great source of inspiration. Photograph courtesy of Simone Irani.
Simone regularly shares sights around the world that inspire her on Instagram, including this shot of an umbrella lined beach along the Amalfi coast, which spoke to her love for patterns and repetition in fabrics. Photograph courtesy of Stuart Cantor Photography.
Simone: Inspiration has been interesting lately because I get a lot of it when I travel. However, I haven't been able to do that since January and I did have a panic moment when I thought: how am I going to manage this year? But I found that it has made me look closer to home and, literally, within my home as well for inspiration. I go deep within my wardrobe, into the brand's archives, or through books and old photos — things I don't normally get time to do. I know it sounds very clichéd, but inspiration can be found anywhere. It is a state of mind and how you look at things and connect the dots.
Josh: Sometimes you can get inspiration from the most unimaginable places too. For example, we did a recent photoshoot for Palola that was inspired by my colleague, Shu Ting, dehydrating fruits in her house! She told us about how rich and vibrant the colours of the fruits became once they are dried, and this eventually led to us designing a whole collection of shoes based on fruit colours.
Ling: On that note, the rich colour palette of LINGWU’s bags actually derives from the spices and hot weather we have here in Asia. That has continuously inspired our collections too season after season.
Ling draws from the hues of Asian spices like turmeric and saffron for LINGWU’s notably rich colour palette. Photograph courtesy of LINGWU.
The striking colours of a colleague’s dehydrated fruit snacks became the accidental inspiration behind a recent collection from Palola. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
An aspect of timelessness is present in the narratives of LINGWU, Simone Irani, and Palola. How is that captured in your pieces?
Ling: My vision and goal has always been to design classics that can transcend time. There is a lot of stress and pressure on designers to design a whole new collection every season. But at LINGWU, we look back through our archives to see which styles work best and then relaunch what is continuously popular. While doing so, we often also tweak the details, change the volume, or change the size and colour of the style — you would be surprised at how quickly a new shape and form can come to life from these. This is what we mean by meaningful revisions, and we do so to keep both the simplicity and consistency of the brand.
Simone: There are certain shapes and styles that Simone Irani has always done too, and these are also updated and modified with every new collection. I think timelessness ultimately comes from the iconic resort wear silhouette, which we both retain and refresh with changes like different detailing, prints, or fabrics.
The leather outsole on a Palola ballet flat. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Colour swatches for Made-To-Order Palola shoes. According to Josh, the higher price tag of Made-To-Order shoes can be attributed to the extra time required to make just one pair in a specific colour and design; the left and right foot may even be in different sizes. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Josh: I'm a firm believer that if you use a classic design, it's always timeless and never going to go out of style. This was Palola’s focus from day one. Whether it's our ballet flats, loafers, or pumps, I think it is quite safe to say that the Palola silhouettes, colours, and styles will remain relevant in the future and even the past. What is more important is producing the best shoe possible that every lady will find comfortable and wear as her go-to pair. It may not always be the most avant-garde or fashion-forward, but we are okay with that. It’s probably why we selected the ballet flat as the first type of shoe we launched.
Simone: Comfort is incredibly important. I don't think we are living in an age where suffering for fashion still stands. Fit and comfort continuously trumps trends.
Ling: A very simple, functional design doesn’t have to be a bore too. Phoebe Philo, the former creative director of CELINE and one of the biggest influences on my work, has designed handbags just like that and they are still so elegant. If you use very beautiful, quality materials with a classic, practical design — it will always remain relevant. It is no longer just 'fashion', which will fade in maybe three or size months. This is something you can pass down.
Josh: When it comes to trends, I think it's very tempting to jump onto the bandwagon sometimes. But for Palola, we've learnt over the years that it’s more important to stay true to the brand’s DNA. There's no need to get all caught up in this race to see who comes up with the next footwear trend. We just focus on doing us, our customers, and what we do best, and hopefully that's enough to keep people coming back for more.
Simone sources her cottons from all over India. Photograph courtesy of Simone Irani.
She is particular with her selection process, which includes looking out for prints, colours, and texture. Photograph courtesy of Simone Irani.
Simone can go through thousands of cottons, of which less than a hundred are often picked. Photograph courtesy of Simone Irani.
Your backgrounds as designers are quite different. Simone is a self-taught designer, Josh is both maker and designer, and Ling mainly designs but works closely with her makers. How has this affected your work?
Simone: I'm not a trained designer, so I’ve worked whichever way has felt right for me. With Simone Irani’s one-of-a-kind sari dresses, for example, I actually work backwards. I source and select the saris, then think about what style will go with it. Every dress must be designed differently because of how unique the saris are in terms of their prints and colours. Saris also have this part called the 'pallu', which is carried on the arm, and deciding where to place this is particular to each piece.
Josh: Having to both design and make Palola’s shoes has been advantageous in giving me a very safe platform to build on in terms of design, since I have an understanding of the shoe’s anatomy and what makes it comfortable and wearable. One of the easiest examples is changing the heel height of a shoe. When we tell customers this cannot be done, many are confused because they assume a higher heel can simply be added to the model that has been lasted. But the thing is, for every heel height, there is a different shoe last required. In other words, you can’t just swap out the heel of a ballet flat for a higher one and expect the shoe to feel the same or even remain functional.
A design sketch by Ling. Photograph courtesy of LINGWU.
Die cut knives in various sizes — one of the many tools employed in the shoemaking process. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Ling: For me, I decided to leave the making to the masters since I’ve only been trained in designing. But collaborating closely with the artisans who make our bags has been interesting because of the insight it’s given me. When you design, you think more about the shape and the structure from the outside. However, when you make, it’s all about the finer details like the stitching or the type of backing materials to use. In fact, gaining knowledge about leather has been very useful and I’ve picked up many tips from the masters and tailors, which helps my designing be more intricate and practical. For example, it’s important to know when to use certain leathers. If you design a structured bag, you need something more tough and firm like cow leather. If you must use something softer, then you need to know the right kind of backing material to prop up the bag’s shape.
Ling, you attended Central Saint Martins in London, while Josh, you did apprenticeships with Angelo Imperatrice and at Stefano Bemer in Florence, Italy. How did your experiences overseas shape you and your designs?
Ling: London was very gritty and street, which was important in making my work less formal. As a designer, it shaped my style of being finished, but not overly polished. This is a consistent aesthetic that I go for even when it comes down to things like shooting my campaigns.
Josh: Being in Italy really changed the way I looked at the shoe industry. The knowledge I gained during my apprenticeship gave me a firm understanding of why shoes need to be made a certain way, and the consequences of not following these fundamental steps. Shoemaking is very old-fashioned in Italy in the sense they don't take shortcuts, even down to the most basic ingredients. So at Palola today, everything is organic and we use as little chemicals or artificially produced materials as possible.
I was really inspired by the importance of tradition as well. You cannot market yourself as making shoes the traditional Italian way if you don't abide by those steps. That is something Palola prides itself on — when we say we make shoes the traditional Italian way, it really means that if you were to take apart our shoe and show all the different processes that went into crafting it to a shoemaker in Italy, they would say it looks like it was made in Italy.
Josh with his first shoemaking master, Angelo Imperatrice. Photograph courtesy of Josh Leong.
Josh in the process of crafting a shoe during Boutiques’s fair in November 2019. Photograph by Amos Lee.
Customer feedback is often part and parcel of running a business. How has it influenced your brand’s collections?
Ling: Customer feedback is a guiding resource for the growth of LINGWU. Within the good and the bad, you can find ‘gems’ that let you quickly and easily make useful adjustments to a product. I love it when customers come back with comments like asking us to make a strap longer so they can go hands-free while shopping with children, adding an extra pocket outside the bag so they can reach their phone quickly, or even not having black lining inside because they can’t see anything when they open their bags. I want to ensure every detail of my bags is functional, so this feedback is very important. Of course, testing the product myself is also key to designing for the best user experience, because I'm very particular about how things are.
Josh: Our customers were actually the ones who helped us design the collections we now offer. Palola started by doing solely made-to-order shoes. After making and selling about 300 pairs of these, we realised that even though our customers had all these choices in terms of designs, colours, and leather, there were certain options they just kept coming back to. This data was the basis for the designs used for our stock models eventually. It would have been so different if Jeremiah and I started the business with stock shoes instead. We would be flying blind since we had no idea what colours or designs women liked, and might have wasted a lot of resources selling shoes that maybe women didn't even want to wear. Testing our prototypes and making sure they are comfortable is also essential. But since we didn’t have any female shoemakers at the beginning, Jeremiah ended up trying the shoes since he has smaller feet than me!
For Ling, customer feedback is an opportunity to make positive adjustments to her designs quickly and effectively. Photograph courtesy of LINGWU.
Jeremiah, co-founder of Palola, test tries ballet flat prototypes during Palola’s early days. Apart from comfort, images were taken to ensure the shoes looked good on a customer’s feet. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Simone: Personally, I really love it when my maxi skirts or dresses are really long, trailing the floor even. So, obviously, one of the most common feedback we’ve got over the years is that some pieces are too long. This is something we’ve taken onboard — not just by shortening the length of long dresses, but also doing more short ones. It's always important to see our pieces on customers as well, and Boutiques has been great in that way because for an intense three or four days, I get to interact with so many customers, see styles on so many different people and body types, and receive instant feedback. It feels almost like an intense case study.
If you had to choose one piece from your collections to represent your brand, what would it be and why?
BUBBLE 12" Python Bronze Foil
Ling: The BUBBLE bag. Not only is it an all-time favourite, it also captures the entire lifestyle, image, and ethos of LINGWU, which is about being casual yet fashionable. I think this is especially applicable during the COVID-19 period when so many of us are working from home and dressing down; life may be slower, but we still want to be chic. Due to its soft form, the bubble bag is not too formal or structured like a working bag. My customers also love its versatility — you can wear it as a clutch or sling and carry it from day to night. More importantly, the bubble bag has passed the test of time since we’ve had it for eight years and it continues to be so relevant. It’s also been fine-tuned along the way, and we now have it four different sizes and various materials like velvet.
Yumi In Classic Oxblood
Josh: It has to be the Yumi ballet flats. It’s our bestseller and also a design that Jeremiah and I came up with from scratch. The Yumi is iconic for two things. It has a little notch or a gull-wing design which features a bar tack stitch that is done entirely by hand for every single pair. This was inspired by my background as a men's shoemaker. For a men's pair of Oxfords, you will always see a seagull shape at the neckline of the shoe and a bar tack stitch if it’s a good pair. The bar tack stitch is also something I learnt when I was in Italy making bespoke shoes for men, and it must be stitched by hand as there is no machine that can produce it. So we wanted to incorporate these two elements as a homage to my background without making a women’s shoe that looked masculine. The Yumi has been so popular and recognisable that we've spotted it when we are out and about. That is extremely rewarding to me because it's so fulfilling to see your shoes out in the wild.
Chloe, Halther Neck Maxi Dress: Aqua Shaded
Simone: It would be our Chloe dress, which is a long halter dress featuring handmade tassels going from the neck down to the back. I think it has been quite an iconic style for us because it's made from our signature fabric — saris — and is in one of our signature silhouettes that customers will see carried forward in every collection. In fact, one of the very first pieces I designed for Simone Irani was a halter top patchworked from excess fabric.
The bar tack stitch at the neckline of a Yumi ballet flat. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
Josh demonstrating the sewing of a bar tack stitch on a pair of men’s shoes. This stitch cannot be accomplished by any machine and must be meticulously done by hand with needle and thread. Photograph courtesy of Palola.
By SERENE GOH of Public Culture, an editorial experience studio that believes in connection over communication.