Structured Novelty Key at Hong Kong Fashion Week
There was an element of untraditional, casual fun at the five group fashion shows spotlighting local and regional designers held during Hong Kong Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2002, which ran Jan. 15–18. Eveningwear and gowns were on display, but most designers incorporated themes of cowboy, punk, gypsy, beatnik, bondage and tech into their item-driven collections.
At the opening night’s “Winter Wonderland” Fashion Extravaganza cocktail hour and show, where snow-covered Christmas trees and all-white-clad hostesses belied Hong Kong’s temperate weather, structural novelty was the key for designers who embraced haphazard hemlines and mixed patchwork skirts with gold chains and lace with denim.
Fur took the spotlight as side seams on Cecilia Yau’s pants and as the intact animal/ultimate shawl accessory by Dorian Ho. Once-romantic corsets went bohemian with And Then’s layered denim top and 21LU’s orange sleeveless dress.
Another staple at the shows was new twists in leather. Modele de Prudence’s suede skirt was cut into ribbons overlaying lace; Rowena U went bold with strapless orange zip-up tops and an ice blue, belted dress.
Taking top honors at the final evening’s young fashion designers’ contest was William Shung, who walked away with $35,000 and a trip to a European fashion show. His theatrical presentation was an interpretation of gypsy punk and 19th-century circus chic that included tight croc-leather dresses with exaggerated clown collars and ballooning knickers. Yeung Shiu Cheung’s shock of pink and purple combinations of one-shoulder and no-shoulder sweaters won the knitwear award and its $15,000 cash prize along with a trip to a fashion show. A gray skirt suit with a draped jacket and multi-paneled blazers and pants were among the items from the restrained clothing of Ho Chu Po that claimed the non-knitwear award. —Nola Sarkisian-Miller
