Six Degrees of Separation at H.K. Fashion Week
HONG KONG—Here at Hong Kong Fashion Week, there are always some event that makes you think there is only six degrees of separation between you and everyone else, even if they live on the other side of the world.
Case in point is Ika, an Indonesian designer based in Hong Kong who is a staple on the runway here, season after season.
I first met Ika more than five years ago at a cocktail party for designers showing at Hong Kong Fashion Week.
She is a petite woman with an enormous capacity for creating intricate collections that always wow the crowds. At the cocktail party, she was chatting away with her loyal fans but had to leave early to take her son, Garrett, to the airport. He was off to summer camp in Colorado, she said.
“What’s the name of the camp,” I asked. “Is it Camp Shady Brook, just west of Colorado Springs, my hometown?”
“You know, I’m not sure, I don’t have the brochure with me. But I’ll tell you tomorrow when you come by my booth,” she said.
I did see her the next day. and she fished out the summer-camp brochure from her purse. Indeed, her son was going to Camp Shady Brook, the YMCA camp that I went to every summer. Ika had chosen the camp because her husband, Jay Bouton, is from Colorado.
I was reminded of all this at the most recent Hong Kong Fashion Week. Talking to Ika after her fabulous show on July 6, she told me Garrett recently graduated from high school, no longer summer-camp material. He is on his way this fall to study at the University of Colorado, my alma mater. Small world, indeed.
