I volunteered in the final phase of Styled Together, a community fashion show with 6 residents at Cassia Crescent held on 17 January 2026. The event was held at the void deck of Block 54, a big open space at the ground floor, with over 100 residents in attendance, and a photo exhibition at Block 52. In the lead up to event day, we had 2 rehearsals with the seniors to prepare their poses and rehearse walking down the aisle with confidence!
A group photo of the creative team, volunteers and partners on the "runway" in the void deck at the end of the event.
BACKGROUND
Styled Together was a fashion-based community programme that used fashions as an entry point for residents to rediscover their confidence and self-worth, led by a friend and artist, Auderia Tan (read more about her conceptualisation process here: Auderia, 2025a). While my involvement was only in the final phase, the residents had gone through a series of workshops that explored tie-dye, thrift-shopping and even photoshoots (read more about the other workshops here: Auderia, 2025b).
Styled Together was also part of a wider series of arts engagement programmes, Arts in the Commons: Dakota Crescent and Arts in the Commons: Cassia, to deepen the ties of residents at Cassia Crescent, where Drama Box had been engaging since 2022 (read more about the wider team).
Volunteering at this project would have been my third time within Cassia Crescent, having volunteered at the Front-of-House for Drama Box's performance, IgnorLAND of its Loss (2016) and also arts engagement project with Arts Wok Collaborative and Cassia Resettlement Team, Cassia Kaki (2018) (documented here). Some of the significance of Cassia Crescent residents is that they were displaced from an older estate, Dakota Crescent, that has since been demolished, which led to the need for re-orientation and the recultivation of social ties, especially for the older residents. I have been told that since then, there have been more residents from different walks of life who have settled into Cassia Crescent.
LEARNING POINTS
I was paired with one of the participants who could not hear and could not speak. It put me on the spot and I had to improvise how we would convey instructions through gestures like: which of the pictures did they want for the exhibition? But also, about engagement, how do I bring curiosity about their life? And as I write this, I realised I had not really thought to share more about myself either. In a second rehearsal, I got paired with Beng Tian. And I got reminded about the other mediums of drawings, of smartphone pictures as reminder cues for poses.
However, I got the heartwarming reminder about the support that comes from community. I saw how the group decided to support this participant by for example, adding a physical gesture of holding our curled up hands together as the "final curtain call", a customary Chinese New Year greeting. I saw how the creative team was also in touch with the participants' loved one just as an added layer of communication, just in case, words get lost.
As always with community-based events, I did feel the tension of how much to push participants: when to do a mid-runway-stop, when to go to the end of the runway, the number of poses. In hindsight, I appreciated how the creative team decided to get volunteers (like me!) to be paired up and to chaperone the residents, doing the rehearsals with them and getting them ready on the event day. I wonder what the residents thought about our support?
APPENDICES
Auderia (2025a, November 13). Styled Together- How it all began. https://hellocassiacrescent.wordpress.com/2025/11/13/styled-together-how-it-all-began/
Auderia (2025b, December 22). Styled Together: Growing connections through fashion. https://hellocassiacrescent.wordpress.com/2025/12/22/styled-together-growing-connections-through-fashion/
Auderia (2026, February 13). Styled Together: What Happened Next. https://hellocassiacrescent.wordpress.com/2026/02/13/styled-together-what-happened-next/