STYLE GURUS

PHOTOGRAPHY NG K HON ART DIRECTION AUDREY CHAN HAIR & MAKEUP BENEDICT CHOO (HP: 9682-9590)

They’re not your average-looking teacher. Frumpy frocks or boring button-downs can’t be found in their wardrobes. Selena Vera Hey meets three who’d look as at home in a runway show as the classroom.

Goh Ling Ling, 35
Digital visual and presentation lecturer at Lasalle College of the Arts
Her style: romance meets rock and roll, and vintage meets lots of black. “When I feel really dark and moody I like to wear a lot of denim and black outfits, very much like French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld. When I am feeling great, I wear printed dresses and pretend I’m Jane Birkin taking a walk in the French countryside,” she says.

She has a passion for period pieces too, recommending local vintage store Granny’s Day Out or eBay for cool buys. “I try to customise the things I buy, like cutting the shoulders or altering them to fit better,” says Ling, who’s also a bag designer when she’s not teaching fashion students how to use imaging software for their designs. Having a unique sense of style is made easier by her work environment – Lasalle’s modern, distinctive architecture was built to inspire its staff and students. “It’s a very creative environment and enables me to indulge in my own fashion fantasy. There are no restrictions on what I can wear,” she says.

She wants to inspire her students the same way, as it “gives them the drive they need to be successful. I want my students to be the best they can, and this is a combination of teaching them the right skills and inspiring them to use them”.

Ling’s dedication to teaching could be due to her early venture into fashion, after discovering i-D magazine in the bookstore as a young teen. “When I was 13, I used to customise my mum’s work clothes – I would cut her skirts, shirts and jackets to make things that fit me. She was horrified. The first thing she would do when she came home every day was look into the bin to see if I had chopped up anything from her closet!” Her family isn’t any less protected from her today: The Mickey Mouse ears worn here are her daughter’s, although they look intact – for now.

Teacher’s pets
Ling supports women designers. Her favourites include French-based Vanessa Bruno, Greek designer Sophia Kokosalaki, luxury jewellery designer Lara Bohinc and Natalia Brilli, known for her signature leather-covered accessories.