Text by Stanley Lui | Photos by John Tan | Makeup by Sharon Pow

Engineering the Perfect Dress, is what designer Evon Tan wants to achieve through her label Armoire, with the ethos of creating clothing with modern simplicity.

The Chemical Engineering graduate was greatly inspired by the Parisian dress sense and style of fashion during her travels around Europe and established Armoire in March 2011, setting out with the goal of creating designs that embody the chic and classic French flare she had fallen in love with.

In 2012, besides opening her flagship boutique in Malaysia, Evon showcased her collections at the Singapore 2012 Blueprint Tradeshow, the Malaysian International Lifestyle and Trade Fair as well as at the Straits Times Classified Fashion showcase event. In addition to her ready-to-wear collections, Evon also found the opportunity to debut her "Spring Summer Romance" bridal collection of evening gowns.

SENATUS managed to catch the Malaysian-born jetsetter who divides her remaining time between managing her businesses in Singapore and Malaysia.

You now retail in countries ranging from Singapore, Malaysia to China — What's your experience dealing in these different geographical markets? Are there differences when it comes to dress preferences?
Our clothings tend to be minimalistic with most of my designs being bodycon dresses, except for the seasonal collections.

The typical female consumer in Malaysia is more conservative in the sense that they are more worried about exposing their arms — most of my dresses are usually sleeveless. In Singapore, the sizing is larger whilst in China, the sizes run smaller especially for cities such as HangZhou.

You're one of the few outstanding labels we've noticed stocked in various e-commerce platforms. How did you decide who to go with?
I based my decisions on the services offered to the designers as well as each platform's customer base. The websites must know who their target audiences are and be able to meet the needs and expectations of both the consumer and the brand.

It is important that the e-commerce platform not overwhelm their customers with too many products at one go. They need to know how to maximise the amount of exposure for each brand.

When you have hundreds of products on sale at any given point in time, it is very easy for younger designer brands such as Armoire to be lost in all that noise.

Who would be your target market? How would you describe the Armoire woman?
I'm targeting the lawyers, bankers, business owners and generally, the working female professional.

What would you consider to be the most challenging aspect of your career so far?
Hiring. The biggest challenge for an entrepreneur remains the unearthing, grooming and retaining good talent. We place an emphasis on training our sales staff and we're on the constant lookout for new blood to join us!

Tell us about your latest collection, it looks fun!
Yes it is! It's called the "Tea Time Collection", inspired by both the story of Alice In Wonderland and Mattel's Barbie dolls.

The collection was conceptualized around the idea of women going for high-teas, for the days when they're out at the Polo Club, or for any whimsical trip out-and-about town!

Any advice you would impart to budding designers out there?
Perseverance. Anyone who wants to be a designer needs a lot of that. Your collection might not be well received and it's easy to get disappointed and give up.

Independence. When you are starting out, everyone will try to give you their advice but you must choose who you want to listen to and adopt what is beneficial for the brand. Most importantly, stick to your vision.

You had a busy year with tradeshows in 2012. Will it be more of the same in 2013?
I am planning to scale back my efforts in showcasing my products at various fashion tradeshows in 2013. Instead, I'll be focusing my time to grow my current list of stockists to more markets, specifically Beijing, Hong Kong, New York and Paris.

Find out more about Armoire at //armoireapparel.com/