Global Glamour
Designers found inspiration across the globe and throughout the 20th century and then offered up their own take on it at Spring/Summer 2002 Hong Kong Fashion Week. Visitors to the four-day trade fair were treated to eight fashion shows featuring the work of more than 60 designers and brands. The festivities began with the Hong Kong Fashion Extravaganza—a gala event that draws Hong Kong celebrities and fashion industry executives. This year’s event was co-sponsored by Cathay Pacific, which just days before the opening of Fashion Week announced a pilots’ strike. But Fashion Week organizers kept the mood light at the opening event, good-naturedly teasing Cathay Pacific executives by asking if the fashion show would “take off” on time. The evening opened with a performance by dancers dressed in a variety of international cultural costumes (note to Americans: it may be time to hang up the red, white and blue sequined number with the feathers). Then, as audience members were shown to their seats by uniformed “flight attendants,” models milled about the runway, which was designed to look like an airport lounge. Other highlights from the week were two Asian-Pacific Fashion Designers shows, featuring the work of designers from Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, and the Hong Kong NewFashion Collection Award show, which paired 15 new designers with established manufacturers in a competition judged by Hong Kong’s fashion-industry leaders.
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council, organizers of Hong Kong Fashion Week, will host Fall/Winter 2002 Fashion Week Jan. 15–18 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
STYLE SWEEPDesigners Mimi Lam Wing May and Conni Wong Ka Li had a nearly full sweep of the Hong Kong New Fashion Collection awards, a competition in which new designers teamed with established manufacturers to create a collection that was judged on best use of fabric, best use of technology, marketability and creativity. Lam and Wong, who teamed with Hong Kong-based manufacturer Moiselle International Ltd., won the awards for best use of fabrics, most creative, most marketable and the overall winner award. —Alison A. Nieder
