Fashion Styling and Creative Designing: An Interview With Josiah Chua

More and more designers have emerged over the years, each with their own unique vision for creating fashionable pieces that are idiosyncratic yet functional at the same time. Just like everyone else, fashion and style are always ready for a makeover.

To get to know more about fashion branding and design, The Beat Asia spoke with one of Singapore's most prominent fashion stylists and creative designers — Josiah Chua.

Youthful Ambition

Josiah is an alumnus of LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore where he majored in Fashion Design. Later on, he studied at Bunka Gakuen University in Tokyo, Japan, and completed a degree in Cultural and Clothing Science.

As an intern and assistant of designers and artists, Josiah was inspired to work for a fashion magazine when he was still a student. It didn’t take long before his career progressed and he became a fashion stylist in a publishing company where he conceptualised and styled fashion editorials.

He mentioned that in his spare time, he accepts commissions for exhibit-related art projects, which allows him to broaden his creative horizons and learn new things.

Throughout his 16-year career of being involved in the creative line of fashion and the arts, Josiah's constant pursuit of knowledge keeps him humble in life.

According to him, every job or project he has worked on is totally unique and, as a creative, “one has to be ready to new experiences and accept challenges as they come. Enjoy the process, live in the present.”

Creative Process

Josiah described his style and aesthetic as a blend of fantasy and reality as he usually gets design inspirations mainly from fictional stories, characters, or themes from animations and cartoons.

“I like to break conventions or push the usual way of seeing things,” he told The Beat Asia.

Josiah follows a certain creative design process in bringing his imaginative ideas to life,

“I usually start with a theme or concept in mind. Then I’ll search for a material to convey or express the intended idea. Along the way, I allow the experimenting process to inspire me as well,” he said.

BTS Meal Sneakers

For those not in the know, Josiah is the brain behind the viral BTS Meal custom sneakers (with a pocket for your McNuggets!).

Back in mid-2021, the meal collaboration received a wildly popular demand and gave birth to unconventional and limited-edition merchandise such as a McNugget body pillow, bathrobes, and more. Many BTS fans repurposed the group's famous meal packaging into a variety of items such as key chains and phone cases, as well as tumblers and frames.

But perhaps the most eye-catching BTS Meal merch was the custom purple sneakers by Josiah.

Josiah revealed in an email interview that the idea behind his viral BTS meal sneakers was a spur of the moment, adding that he was taken aback by the overwhelming response he received from fans all over the world.

Xiaomi Collaboration

Working with various brands that he admires is one of the greatest privileges for Josiah as a designer and stylist.

Earlier this year, Josiah was tapped by Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi to collaborate on a creative project featuring the brand’s latest premium smartphone.

As the first Singaporean designer to work with Xiaomi, he described the experience as “extremely challenging but fun to work on.”

“There were a couple of back and forth on the creative developments and conceptualising with the brand and it all came together really well,” he said.

Josiah’s collaboration with Xiaomi highlights ethereal fashion and lifestyle reimagined through Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE. The project features a futuristic theme with heavy shades of pastel on bubblegum blue and peachy pink ensembles.