Sue Wong Opens Spring in L.A.
Leaping ahead of the earliest scheduled events for the upcoming Los Angeles Fashion Week, Sue Wong, L.A.’s reigning queen of detailed gowns and cocktail dresses, debuted her Spring 2013 collection, called Spring Transcendent, on Sept. 21 at The Conga Room in downtown Los Angeles’ L.A. Live entertainment complex.
Along with intricately beaded and embroidered gowns, Wong is celebrated for her sense of theater. Her Spring 2013 runway show started with a recital of taiko drums, followed by Thomas Jane, the lead for HBO series “Hung,” reciting verse from Ralph Waldo Emerson, a transcendentalist writer who reportedly influenced the 2013 collection.
But there was no simplicity of style, which inspired transcendentalists such as Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. “I am not a minimalist,” Wong said. “I am a maximalist. ... I am still the queen of details.”
Wong’s detailed aesthetic took the Conga Room’s runway with a 73-look show, which offered looks such as a long column dress with a mandarin collar; a sleeveless sheath dress, embroidered with chiffon rosettes; and a one-shouldered long dress with a multi-tiered, layered organza skirt. Also seen was a strapless long dress with an embroidered and an embellished torso, which also featured a skirt with ruffles and corded ribbon detailing.
The last section of the show, called Transcendence, offered bridal looks. This section’s ivory-hued dresses included a long gown with an intricate beaded and embroidered torso and a taffeta petal skirt.
Part of Wong’s moveable feast was recorded and displayed with 3-D film. The event was part of the 3-D Film Festival, which took place Sept. 20–22 at L.A. Live. Before Wong’s event, many audience members were handed stylish 3-D glasses to witness the event on 3-D screens. Documentary filmmaker Catherine Bauknight also caught the event for upcoming documentary “Fashion and Culture in Los Angeles.”"—Andrew Asch
See full Sue Wong slideshow here.
