Here is a hot take: It is time to get friendly with the sun. Stop avoiding it. This is the premise, and provocation, of Hot Bodies, a fashion exhibition running until end-December that rethinks design in a time of record-breaking heat and air-conditioner dependency.

Organised by locally-based branding firm Anak and done in consultation with researchers like director of the Heat Resilience & Performance Centre at NUS Medicine, Associate Professor Jason Lee, the show commissioned 10 creatives around the world to make heat-fit apparel and accessories, with no cutbacks on style.

Propositions include the 38 deg C suit by Japanese brand Front Office. It uses a custom twill fabric with a 16-count indigo cotton warp. The double-sided twill places cooling silk against the skin, while the indigo exterior maintains the suit’s formal character. Its carefully oversized cut gives room for better airflow.

Singapore and Shanghai-based brand Tanchen Studio suggests a chest-grazing jade collar. After all, the chest, together with the core and upper back, is one of the hottest parts of the body, and the familiar green stone is a fine thermal conductor.

From Vietnamese label The Idiot is a puffy, powder-blue jacket, a “windcatcher” that subverts the function of a windbreaker, with vents in the back, underarms and chest.

Other exhibits include French graphic artist Jean Jullien’s capes for kids that the little ones can try on in a play area within a tent, and a giant inflatable suit worn by a real model floating in a pool that feels like wacky contemporary art.