Just the other day, a well- heeled shopper dressed head to toe in Belgian designer Dries Van Noten walked into multilabel boutique Front Row at Raffles Hotel.
Her attention was drawn to a rack of stylish dresses and fashionable mix-and-match pieces in beguiling pastels and deeply saturated hues.
It didn't take long before she left pleased as Punch with three pieces which cost her under $100 in all.
Also grinning from ear to ear was Front Row's owner, Ms Ann Kositchotitana, 36.
The pieces were from Headline Seoul (HLS), a Korean fast-fashion label she hopes will become the H&M or Zara of Asia.
She's off to a dizzying start.
Although she and her Korean partner, Mr Brandon Hong, conceptualised the label only in April, they had sealed their first franchise deal, worth more than $1 million, in the Philippines by August and the label is now selling in three stores in Manila.
If all goes well, HLS stores should be popping up early next year in Thailand, Indonesia, China, and South Korea.
The label - with chic and trendy pieces priced from $15 to $150 - was launched in Singapore last week and will be available until Dec 3 via a pop-up corner at Front Row. The line should be available in two department stores next month.
HLS is yet another milestone for Ms Kositchotitana, who started Front Row in 2005 at Ann Siang Hill only to see it almost turn belly up barely six months later.
But she persevered and today, the former business consultant has three swish boutiques at Raffles Hotel - Front Row, A.P.C. and FlyNow - carrying high-end, edgy and progressive labels. She also operates a creative agency for regional designers and is the go-to gal for Asian designers hoping to spread their wings internationally.
The idea of going into fast fashion - trendy runway-inspired clothing at affordable prices - came to her when a difficult second pregnancy confined her to bed for several months last year.
"I've always done high-end fashion but if we're going to grow as a group, we've got to go mass and reach out to more people," she says.
And what better way of making a splash than to ride the Korean cultural wave - from K-pop to movies and food - sweeping the world?
