Sisters Society: A sartorial collaboration

 “Sisters Society

 A sartorial collaboration”
Sun.Star Davao, February 17, 2018

Five stylish sisters. One creative goal.

Meet the fabulous Seng siblings – Stephanie (35), Shauna (30), Stacey (25), Trisha (23), and Tanya (19).

Their style story began when their mother started nurturing their love for fashion by evenly curating their closets with timeless and trendy pieces which allowed them to experiment and eventually discover their personal style at an early age.

FAB FIVE. The fabulous Seng siblings (from left) Shauna Seng-Yap, Stephanie Seng-Ong, Trisha Seng, Stacey Seng and Tanya Seng

“Our father was by no means a spectator in our sartorial journey. He played an active role as our critic - generous in his compliments and sincere in his observations. With our parents’ open-mindedness and influence, we’ve become five independently-minded girls with varying eyes for fashion”, declares Stephanie, a mom of four.

Creative outlet

With Stephanie, Shauna and Stacey working at their family’s hardware business, they yearned for a creative outlet.

“The hardware industry has always been male-dominated and the products we sell are all highly technical in nature. We have always dreamt of creating our own clothing brand but felt we were inadequately prepared to establish one”, says Stephanie.

When Trisha finally graduated with a Fashion Degree from De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde, the Seng sisters thought it was the perfect time to jumpstart their little venture but the Lord had other plans. 

Trisha felt she needed time to consider if this was the career path she was meant to take so she decided to take up short courses at the University of the Arts, Central St. Martins in London and Istituto di Moga Burgo in Milan, Italy.

“When everything fell into place, Trisha felt God was giving her the go-signal to pursue fashion as a business and the rest is history”, smiles Stephanie.

Fab five

Last week, the fab five officially launched the Sisters Society, the retail arm of Trisha Seng Design Studio, where Trisha is the Design and Crafting Director while Stephanie functions as the CEO. Meanwhile, Shauna acts as the Finance Director and Stacey, the Creative Director. The youngest Tanya, who is a Multimedia Arts student at DLSU-College of St. Benilde, serves as the Art Director.

The Sengs point out that it is difficult to encapsulate their design aesthetic into a few words because their brand is about celebrating their differences. In fact, if you meet the Seng sisters for the first time, you couldn’t tell that they were sisters.

However, with the differences in physicality come five different perspectives and style preferences. It is in these differences that they can celebrate their uniqueness and express it creatively through fashion.

Stephanie intimates that during the entire creative process, they would constantly ask themselves these questions: “Would we personally wear the final product?”; “Is it versatile?”; “Can it be worn in different ways with different pieces of clothing?”; “Will it fit girls of different shapes and sizes?”; and “Does it fit the persona of the quintessential Sisters Society girl – cool, confident, unafraid to make a statement?”.

What’s in store

“Sisters Society is still in its infancy and we still have a lot to learn in this industry, but we are eager to see what the future holds for us. The toughest challenge is how to sustain the brand, but we are fortunate to have an endless supply of visual inspiration from the world around us, not to mention, a burgeoning community of creatives and designers in Davao City who continuously share ideas and advice”, enthuses Stephanie.

“Our price points are quite reasonable considering the thought process and careful construction of our pieces. We are looking at a price range of P1,000 to P4,500. Our current collection has T-shirts that retail for P850”, she adds.

In addition, Trisha can create chic bespoke pieces for the modern woman.  “She usually allots a minimum of 4 weeks to create the dress of your dreams”, promotes the proud eldest sister.

For now, the Sisters Society is already conceptualizing their next collection and hope to continue creating stand-out pieces for their fashion-forward clientele.

Adeline Infante and Gay Te wearing Sisters Society

Shannen Lim, Stephanie Seng-Ong and Dr. Jennifer Lim

Wami Luy, Ccia Ang and Kat Garcia

Nikki Tan, Maritess Cruz, Charyl Martin, Darlene Cimafranca and Elizabeth Unlay

“We are over the moon by the response we received at the launch last week. The Sisters Society is hoping that our clients will continue their sartorial journey with us and find our greatest collaboration worthy of their closets!”, concludes the perennially chic Stephanie.

Sisters Society can exclusively be found on Instagram at @shopsisters.society. For inquiries, send a direct message or email shopsisters.society@gmail.com. For information on Trisha Seng Apparel and Design Studio, send an SMS or Viber 09177288310.

E-mail the author at mom.about.town.dvo@gmail.com. Visit http://momabouttowndavao.blogspot.com/.