Launching Soon: Youths in Balaclava

Youths in Balaclava is a Singapore-based collective made up of men and women under the age of 24 who join forces to cultivate one-off projects and fashion collections like ‘Traitors 2 Society’ and ‘Stigma.’ The 18-person group have a range of different professions from fashion designers, financial advisors, military guards, and musicians but they all have the same aim of rebelling against the highly pressured expectations of their culture.

During a visit to Singapore, Dover Street Market’s photographer Ryan O’Toole Collett, came across Youths in Balaclava. After spending a week with the group, Collett photographed and curated a book with his shots. The group hand-make their unique looks and pride themselves in not following seasonal trends or wearing designer labels. 

Collett commented, “The reality is that while there are a lot of young people there who can afford the luxury clothes, there’s also a large percentage of the population who aren’t able to. YIB’s style reflects this disparity—they embrace what they love and create their own look.” He continues, “Their style is predominantly influenced by music, and the genres they are into are far-reaching geographically and in time, whether it’s grunge, punk, electropunk, normcore, pop, rap, or rock. The diversity of the music they listen to is characteristic of their approach to fashion, which is experimental, chaotic, and customized.”

Since the launch of the book, Youths in Balaclava has realsed two ready-to-wear collections. Launching 15th January 2020, shop the latest collaboration at Hervia.com.