From slick suits to leopard-on-leopard looks, Petra Sekhar – the Singapore-based Head of Marketing at Vogue Singapore – is difficult to miss. In her current role, Petra leads and curates the brand’s partnerships, sponsorships, distribution and community engagement, so her personal penchant for high camp and aesthetic storytelling is fitting: her looks invite attention, sometimes humour, and a different kind of aesthetic engagement, which is something she’s learning to embrace.
The Oxford graduate’s penchant for high camp aside, her appreciation for the individual has clearly extended into her career. As programme lead of the Vogue Talent Prize and the Vogue Innovation Prize, a programme that spotlights fashion entrepreneurs who are solving real-world challenges through innovation, Petra is an advocate for new ideas and emerging visionaries in fashion and beauty. The most recent NEXT IN VOGUE, Vogue Singapore’s annual conference and event programme, saw her successfully curate and gather over thirty of the most prestigious and enterprising global industry leaders for a series of change-making panels. Petra’s disposition for choosing and championing the individual, the unique, and the progressive, in both her personal style and throughout her career, has distinguished her as a mover and shaker to be noticed in the world of fashion and beauty. PAKT spoke with her to discuss her love of Tabi’s, her dream sweet collaboration, and the Hong Kong shop where she finds her best pieces.
1) Describe your style in 3 words.
Chic, humorous, playful.
2) Less or More?
More is more is more is more.
3) What’s the most meaningful item in your wardrobe?
My dad’s Franck Muller watch. This was the first major watch he bought when he was younger, so it feels really meaningful to be able to wear it.
4) What’s the most-worn item in your wardrobe?
My Margiela Tabi loafers. They literally go with everything, and I honestly feel like it’s so liberating to have my toes separated.
5) What’s your go-to outfit?
Leopard on leopard. It is my most low-effort, high-impact outfit and it hits every time.
6) What’s on your current fashion wish-list?
I’ve had this one skirt from a Korean brand called KIMHEKIM on my wish-list for ages. It’s so camp and that’s why I’m obsessed with it.
7) What’s the best fashion advice you have received?
‘Who cares.’ I always tended to overthink whether an outfit I wanted to wear was ‘too much’ for an event or outing, and my partner would always tell me not to care and just to wear what I loved; it’s made me so much bolder and subsequently fall in love with my own style so much more.
8) Who are your style icons?
Tilda Swinton & Cate Blanchett.
9) Who would be your dream collaborator and why?
KitKat. I have religiously loved KitKat for so many years (so much so that I actually have a KitKat tattoo on my arm), and I feel like they are ripe for a really chic and fashion-forward brand collaboration (@kitkat call me?).
10) A recent shopping find is…
This amazing Rick Owens top from HULA, a vintage store in Hong Kong.
11) If you could have anyone’s wardrobe, whose would it be and why?
Alexander Fury. He is one of the most prolific collectors in fashion, and I would die to have access to that archive.
12) If a museum asked you to donate one item from your wardrobe that represented you, what would it be?
The dress that I wore to our 2024 NEXT IN VOGUE Gala. The theme was Les Enfants Terrible: The Art of Rebellion, and the dress itself is made from this incredible top from this Ukrainian brand called DZHUS, that I stitched onto an old black dress I had from university. I feel like it’s the perfect amount of camp and chic.
13) What will we never find in your wardrobe?
Honestly, nothing, because I like to take a lot of swings, so I have a lot of random stuff in my closet. Also, I’m a hoarder that never throws anything away.
14) What is your favourite fashion project that you’ve worked on?
The Vogue Innovation Prize – it scouts fashion entrepreneurs with a mission to solve real world problems through innovation, and it’s my absolute favourite thing to work on because 1) we get to assemble an incredible line-up of globally-renowned industry experts, and 2) I get to meet so many incredible businesses (like our 2024 winner PAKT) and be a small part of their incredible journeys.
15) If you could go back in time, which fashion era would you choose and why?
‘80s. I love big shoulders and big drama.
16) Who would you invite to your dream fashion dinner?
Ru Paul, Suzy Menkes, Alex Consani, Jonathan Anderson.
17) What are your favourite tunes to get ready to?
At the moment, it’s a lot of Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ (still) and Doechi’s ‘Alligator Bites Never Heal’.
18) What are your top 3 accounts to follow on social media?
@allthingsfashiontech, @voguesingapore, @diet_paratha
19) What are your favourite apps?
Instagram, Sudoku, NYT Games (completing Connections and the Mini is a morning ritual).
20) What is your earliest fashion memory?
When I was probably around eleven years old, I wanted to be a fashion designer and so did a lot of sketches. We went on a family holiday to Bali one year, and my mum took me to a tailor to get one of my designs made. In hindsight, it was a terrible outfit, but the cutest memory.
21) What are the last three places you travelled to, and what are the can’t-miss shops?
- Hong Kong – HULA. It’s a vintage store on Hollywood Road (that also has a mega warehouse in Quarry Bay), and it’s where I’ve found some of the best pieces in my wardrobe.
- Bangkok – Loft Eyes. A great spot to discover local Thai designers that are so wonderfully curated.
- Tokyo – Dover Street Market. A classic that always hits.
