Mixing business with pleasure, Yang began reselling luxury bags to Shanghai’s stylish society members and later, repairing and restoring them as well. It speaks to Yang’s shrewdness that this was years before the second-hand luxury fashion market became as saturated as it is today.

In 2010, Yang decided to expand her resale business and traded Shanghai for another metropolis: Singapore. “I came here because the country seemed wide open to the world,” explains Yang. “I was sure that anything that had to do with luxury would take root because there’s an appetite for all things fine and fashionable.”

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But Yang wanted to do more. “I’ve dreamed of being a designer since I was a child,” she shares. “Although I have engaged in a lot of work that’s unrelated to design, that dream has always been in my mind and I’ve never given it up.”

With Abara, Yang came full circle. All her years in the fashion industry gave her an intimate understanding of what made a luxury bag and she sought the right people to create hers. She assembled a team of craftsmen in Singapore who specialise in crocodile leather and their expertise is evident on Abara’s bags, where the scales of leathers are perfectly aligned to follow the symmetry of each design.

She also found a local tannery that supplies exotic leathers such as crocodile and alligator skins to some of the top luxury fashion brands in the world. With access to the tannery, Yang is able to offer her clients full reign over the look and feel of their bespoke bags. Besides colours, they can choose from three leather finishes that are exclusive to Abara: the antique finish, which adds a slight sheen to matte leather; the glazed finish, which transforms bags with an irresistible glossy shine; and the snow antique finish, which uses rare albino crocodile skin that has been dyed to mimic the snowy façade of the Himalayan mountains.

That Yang is attuned to what women want is clear from Abara’s first collection of ready-made bags released this year. A standout is the Tr’Apeze, a timeless structured handbag that is fitted with gussets to offer more space. There are also simple tote bags embellished with a detachable mini pouch, should you want your AirPods within reach.

Even with their modern touches, Abara’s bags are meant to be treasured for life. The Bow Bag is the perfect example. Yang’s first design, created because she wanted to have a bag to match with her daughter, is marked by a playful, bow-shaped flap and the fact that it comes with a mini version.

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In Yang’s world, bags are much more than stylish accessories. Speaking about the canvas bag that she received as a child and still owns, she says: “To me, it contained all the unexpressed wishes and aspirations that my grandma and mother held for me. It contained their dreams for a better life, and that bag inspired me to grow up speedily and learn to be independent.”

Adds Yang: “I hope this courage can be passed on to my daughter, so that she can also be unafraid of life’s hardships. I want her to be fearless!”

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