I was late for the media preview of Concours d’Elegance Singapore at the IMBA Theatre. But my luck was in—most of the party had already left. I was introduced to the McLaren 750S Coupe and Artura Spider without having to jostle for a first look.
The cars marked the debut of Project Duality, a bespoke design partnership between McLaren Singapore and Chelsea Scott-Blackhall. The latter’s label Dzojchen has dressed celebrities, including BTS, Austin Butler, and Chadwick Boseman. It has also presented at fashion weeks across Paris, New York, Seoul, and Singapore.
I fell for the 750S Coupe almost immediately—too cool for school with a matching metallic plum-grey coat. As I made my way to its rear, I caught a tiny houndstooth textile pattern on the engine deck (oh, Easter egg). Next to it, the Artura Spider, with its top down sat quietly. Although elegant in its shiny, creamy coat, it had lines that I found intriguing.
When I queried Singaporean-born Scott-Blackhall, she laughed. “You may fall for the loudest person in the room because they’re impressive at that moment. Does that translate to a 30-year marriage? Not necessarily, right?”
You design clothes people want to wear. Can desire be designed?
You can look at something or someone and think, “Wow, so beautiful” yet not desire it. Desire is a feeling, a hidden language. My design process always starts with capturing this emotion.
You founded Dzojchen in 2012, and you design its men’s and women’s fashion collections. What was it like designing cars?
While I didn’t expect it to be as instinctively easy, I found the process very different yet very similar. While some designers chase a silhouette, I focus on enhancing confidence by creating a version of your identity you couldn’t voice without that outer armour.
A car or a piece of clothing sits in the same realm of desire within each individual—you are buying it as an extension of yourself for the world to see. For this collaboration, I drew on every lesson learnt in my own trade and applied them to something entirely outside it. I was very nervous throughout the whole process, When I saw the two cars, I thought, “I desire them more than anything else I see,” and patted myself on the back.
Did you have to refine this process for your McLaren collaboration?
Definitely. While I wouldn’t call the process difficult, I had to be conscious of the distinct technical and design elements. I learnt all this quickly, especially about carbon fibre—a highly sophisticated material that makes McLaren so incredible. I had to ensure that what was executed stayed true to the feeling I started with, without using elements that wouldn’t make technical sense.
How did each car speak to you?
I designed both cars through the same emotional lens; I saw them as a collective. As the foundation of the 750S is its colour play, the custom colourway came first, while the line work was an easy sign-off. It was a bit more challenging with the Artura Spider because of its interplay with my trade. Its lines mirror those I draw on paper sewing patterns I use to mark fabrics. I saw these lines as accentuating the car’s body.
Your design begins with capturing desire. What has changed about the way we desire?
Our world has changed so much, and we are seeing so many new things so quickly. All this over-stimulation can confuse our desire. We go from one thing to another, then second-guess what we thought we originally wanted. But I think if you’re anchored enough, what creates desire within you shouldn’t change that much.
Both cars are available for purchase. See them for yourself at the McLaren Singapore showroom.
