A look from Sue Wong's career retrospective show. Photo by Andrew Asch
Sue Wong’s Career – On the Runway
After a career of making gowns inspired by empresses and gypsies, Los Angeles fashion veteran Sue Wong was honored with a lifetime achievement award from Art Hearts Fashion Week on March 16.
Wong has spent 50-years designing clothes, 33 were spent helming her self-named Sue Wong label. Her gowns and cocktail dresses featured intricate detailing and vintage inspirations. Think 1920s Flappers, Edwardian era aristocrats, Chinese empresses, Flamenco dancers and princesses out of fantasy films.
The audience at The MacArthur events space in Los Angeles - it was sold out- got to see all sides of Wong’s story. She presented 67 looks. The show clocked in at 50 minutes. A long show took a long time to set up. So long that showtime started one hour after the originally scheduled wrap-up time of 8pm. Once it got started, models walking the show wearing ornate headdresses to a soundtrack of pounding German Goth rock, Gregorian chant and some Renaissance music. “It was a fashion opera,” Wong said. “I wanted to showcase every magnificent look in its own right.”
When Wong accepted her award, she noted that the myriad inspirations have one theme. “I represent the eternal feminine,” she told the crowd. She also made it clear that retiring is not a possibility. “This is my third phoenix rising,” she said.
