EYE CANDY: We Chat with YESAH Founder, Linda Hao

PUBLISHED September 11th, 2015 12:29 pm | UPDATED July 22nd, 2024 02:45 pm

In the September edition of EYE CANDY, we caught up with a Shanghai-born young lady who wears many hats – entrepreneur, designer, and part time DJ – Linda Hao. Established in 2012, with five collections to date, Yesah made its debut with YESTOTES (a luxurious spin on everyday tote bags) at Blueprint Emporium in 2013. Drawing inspiration from her love of music and films, YESAH’s feisty and quirky founder hasn’t looked back since.

Hi Linda! Tell us a little more about yourself – how did you get into the fashion industry, and what was your impetus for starting Yesah?

I got into the fashion scene pretty early, while working at retail stores like Blackmarket and Ambush when I was still a fashion student at Temasek Polytechnic.

My childhood ambition was to be a designer so I was very sure of what I wanted to do. Once I graduated, and without much hesitation, I just winged it!

What are the main inspirations behind Yesah’s collections? Is there a certain vibe you want each collection to embody?

Yes, every collection has its own unique concept. Daily life sights, scenes, and sounds inspire me. For example, I created SS15’s vibes through the type of music I listen to and what I see – retro industrial architecture, in this case. So I just mixed the two together and started designing based on retro-futurism.

Do you have a personal favourite collection for Yesah? If so, which one and why?

Yesah has 4 collections to date, and if I had to pick, my favourite would still be the Yestotes 2014 collection. The bags in real life are just too much of a killer (laughs).

How would you describe your personal style? Are there any clothing articles/accessories that you cant live without?

I’m really versatile, and I get sick of things easily so I change things up from time to time – hopping from vintage to eclectic, to classic, to street vibes, to pastel cyber, and so on. As you can tell, I love experimenting with my own style. Oh, and I can’t live without sunglasses.

Are there any brands/collectives that you admire and would love to work with?

At the moment, I’m obsessed with Eric Trine’s product designs and I do wish to collaborate with someone like that on lifestyle products. That will be amazing!

Aside from running Yesah, you also DJ – how does that tie in with your fashion work?

It all makes sense ’cause I usually only DJ for brand launches and other fashion events, so I guess it fits perfectly.

Any favourite fashion trends or labels and music tracks at the moment?

I try my best not to look up trends, current or upcoming, because I find it really distracting for my design work, so not really. My track at the moment is Bones by Oliver Koletzki featuring HVOB.

What have you learnt from starting Yesah?

I’ve learnt so much, I don’t even know where to begin! The most important thing is probably learning the difference between pursuing what you like and being good at what you like. The results of both are different and the experience you get from both are really different too. But I think it’s really important to acknowledge the difference and ask yourself, what is it that you want to do?

Header image courtesy of Linda Hao, and Yesah.

Thumbnail Image courtesy of Linda Hao’s Instagram.