The city's famed shopping belt has been abuzz with new openings of late: lingerie label Etam, Italian watchmaker Vabene, UK shoe brand Kandee as well as multi-label boutiques Preview and Hook & Union have all marked their territory along Orchard Road.

Earlier this month, Wing Tai Retail debuted the first store of French lingerie brand Etam, known for its luxurious, pretty-frilly intimate wear at accessible price points ($19.90 onwards), at Wisma Atria. Two new-to-Singapore labels that have found a home in Mandarin Gallery are Vabene, the Italian watch brand renowned for its irreverently hip and bright-colored timepieces, and celeb-endorsed shoemaker Kandee, which opened its first global flagship to offer its signature fun, candy-hued footwear.

On the local front, there's Preview, a store extension of multi-label boutique The Editor's Market, with its high-street picks from labels like American Apparel, Cheap Monday, Unif and Deandri. At Orchard Central, the people behind threadbare & squirrel and DH.Sunglass have set up Hook & Union, a collaborative pop-up boutique that stocks a range of curated goods including local labels max.tan, Weekend Sundries and Lion Earl as well as overseas names like Alister Yap (Australia), Retro Super Future (Italy) and Waiting for the Sun (France).