After closing their flagship unit at "Pacific Plaza", streetwear label Stussy has re-opened its first Chapter store at 313@ somerset.

In 1980, Shawn Stussy was a local cult surfboard shaper who took his scrawled signature logo from his foam masterpieces and applied it to t-shirts that he sold with his boards around Laguna Beach, California.

As the clothing line expanded, it's raw and modern aesthetic soon developed into the next generation of new wave beach culture. They grew during a time when epochal shifts which eternally framed contemporary popular culture were taking place. In the music scene, the late 70's gave us punk. Then the early 80's brought us into the new DIY music called rap. Punk broke creative and aesthetic barriers and taught us that anyone could have a band. Rap then preceded not only to push social boundaries but also explore the ideas of remixing and sampling These new ideas and territories created a new modern platform for fashion and cultural expression.

With Stussy's success came the opportunity to travel and spread the Stussy vibe. They hooked up with trendsetters in New York, London, Tokyo and other areas of the world. Stussy clothing was inspired by this international group of musicians, skaters, DJs and artists with similar tastes, which helped to shape the brand into an international streetwear label.

Today, Stussy exists as a brand with worldwide respect and independence. With over sixty stores across the globe and a very strong tribe still in effect, Stussy is a leader in the culture which they helped start almost 30 years ago.

Enjoy the full-range of the brand’s collection in their new minimalist-industrial boutique.

Esprit has opened a new outlet at City Square Mall.

The brand was created by Susie and Doug Tompkins, who started selling Esprit clothes out of the back of their station wagon. In 1979 John Casado designed the famous Esprit stencil-effect logo, it became one of the most recognised and memorable in international fashion.

Esprit is an international youthful lifestyle brand offering smart, affordable luxury and bringing newness and style to life. The Group operates more than 800 directly managed retail stores worldwide.

A team of international designers translates the Esprit attributes into regular collections in a self-confident, natural, stylish and sensual way: 12 collections are produced for six order dates per year and a  product line for kids & edc youth by Esprit, Esprit shoes and ESP Esprit sports. Four collections are produced per year for Esprit bodywear.

#01-32 City Square, 180 Kitchener Road

Tel :+ 65 63390948

Swarovski will be opening a new outlet at the new Jem shopping mall.

The brand primarily works with luxury items and design crystals produced in Wattens, Austria.

The Swarovski Crystal range includes crystal glass sculptures and miniatures, jewellery and couture, home decor and chandeliers. All sculptures are marked with a logo. The original Swarovski logo was an edelweiss flower,  which was replaced with the current swan logo in 1988.

To create crystal glass that lets light refract in a rainbow spectrum, Swarovski coats some of its products with special metallic chemical coatings. Aurora Borealis, or "AB", is one of the most popular coatings, and gives the surface a rainbow appearance. Other coatings are named by the company, Crystal Transmission, Volcano, Aurum and Dorado.

Swarovski's work was recently exhibited at Asia's Fashion Jewellery & Accessories Fair based on the concept of a single continuous beam of fragmented light travelling through a crystal.

Jem, 8 Jurong Town Hall Road, Jurong East

Tel +65 66729500 or email: [email protected]

Ther Merlion, Singapore's most unique tourism landmark, will be transformed into a temporary hotel suite where guests can spend a night. The project is an installation project titled "The Merlion Hotel", presented as part of this year's "Singapore Biennale" (v) organised by the Singapore Art Museum.

The Merlion would be hoarded up from Feb 7 to March 9 to facilitate the conversion and for safety considerations. The Merlion Hotel will be unveiled on March 11 and be opened for public viewing from March 13 to May 15. During this time, members of the public will be able to view the installation daily from 10am to 7pm.

Key information on "The Merlion Hotel", including how visitors may stay a night at the suite, will be illustrated on the hoarding panels and announced shortly by the Singapore Art Museum. The Merlion will be undergoing reinstatement works from May 16 to June 5. Operation will resume on June 6.

The Merlion (Malay: Singa-Laut) is an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, is used as a mascot of Singapore. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The fish body comes from Singapore's ancient name back when it was a fishing village - Temasek - meaning "sea town" in Javanese. The lion head represents Singapore's original name - Singapura - meaning "lion city" or "kota singa".

The symbol was designed by Fraser Brunner, a member of the Souvenir Committee and curator of the Van Kleef Aquarium, for the logo of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and has been in use from 26 March 1964 to 1997.The Merlion continues to be its trademark symbol since 20 July 1966. Although the STB changed their logo in 1997, the STB Act continues to protect the Merlion symbol.

Merlion Park, Marina Bay

Tel: +65 63323222

The Comme des Garcons PLAY brand, affectionately synonymous with their signature heart logo has expanded in Singapore with a new POCKET store that has just opened at the slightly obscure COMO House building off Orchard Road.

Not unlike a convenience store, POCKET is stocked with a vast range of PLAY T-shirts as well as their branded fragrances, wallets and nick-nacks.

Singapore is only the third city in the world to feature such a store, the others being in Paris and Tokyo and this shows the esteem with which we all hold the PLAY brand and our need for having a well-stocked one-stop shop.

6B Orange Grove Road, COMO House

Tel: +65 63041328