Hong Kong Fashion Week wrap-up

As Hong Kong Fashion Week came to a close in steaming Causeway Bay, we spun through reels of catwalk images and showroom shots desperately trying to choose favourites, and failing miserably. But outside the confines of trend shows, two very interesting points came out of the week. The first is that design students in Hong Kong are true innovators, and the second is that, as well as being a gateway to China, Hong Kong has its eyes on India.

The Student Shows:

KaCaMa Design LabA mound of glowing round petal-like lamps sits in the centre of the triangular catwalk at Hong Kong Fashion Week’s New Design Force show. The lamps are made from up-cycled exhibition banners and the show is presented by KaCaMa design lab, a cooperative of Hong Kong Polytechnic University graduates Kay Chan, Catherine Suen and Match Chen. Stand out collection Oh My Gob is presented by Chew the Cud, a self-appointed ‘local shitty little brand’. The collection delivers in-your-face aesthetics with billowing geometric tops, OTT Perspex neckplates and geometric capes. Models wore bars across their eyes – embodying the trio’s (Angela Ng, Casey Ng and Zoe Li) non-conformist attitude. Lab compatriots contributed plenty of socks with wedge sandals and confirmation that come summer, everything’s gonna be all white.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University
As usual the real razzle dazzle came from the student shows. Free from the shackles of production and commercial viability, creativity reigns supreme. Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) staged its Master of Arts Graduation Fashion Show. Taking up the trend towards masculine style for the laydees, Ayan Chan’s Femiman brought together faux leather structure with sheer cutouts, slits, and asymmetric takes on double breasted jackets to construct (or perhaps deconstruct) a modern lady-warrior. At the other end of the spectrum, Lilian Kan’s The Blue and White Porcelain Collection saw the fairest of them all in china-cup-prints with red lips and delicate floral millinery.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Chinese University of Hong Kong's show had a celebratory vibe. There were plenty of flowers in the crowd, from corsages and buttonholes for special guests, to bright bouquets. At the end of the show, students took their bows alongside towering models and bewildered loved ones stumbled onto the catwalk to deliver bunches. Brilliant.

Opening with Ka Yin Ng’s fanciful 'Carousel', the show bounced from Elvis Tse Wing Ho’s origami-inspired Blooming, to Daisy Li Na’s striking knitted molecular adventure, 'Cells’ Direction'. Teddy bears took to the catwalk dangling from the arms of nymph like ladies in Kaman Ka Man Suen’s 'Back to Childhood', and silhouettes were worked over in Oliver Ka Ho Lau’s treatment of boiled wool in 'Vortexes'.

The India Pavilion:
As consumers become more aware (in my fantasies) we start to consider where our clothes are made, and by whom, in what conditions. In addition to showcasing talent and trade opportunities in Hong Kong and China, this year’s Hong Kong Fashion Week welcomed Indian exhibitors to the India Pavillion. An opening ceremony saw a local students perform traditional dance in various forms.

Madan Trading Company  (New Delhi)  has a design team and provides garments to labels including Liz Claiborne and Mango. The brand's marketing manager, Guntas Madan studied in London before returning to India to work in her family’s business, she explained:
"While China’s prices are rising, Indian businesses still can’t compete on many items. Where India shines, quite literally, is on embellishments – hand beading is a traditional skill which the company nurtures, providing jobs including accommodation, for people from villages who are skilled at the craft. Whilst machine beading technology continues to improve, significant savings can be made. “We don’t mind doing everything by hand but the buyer does. It’s more expensive.” Madan often choose to complete production half on machines and half by hand to keep people employed and the skills preserved for future generations. “This is an Indian skill, we will never go 100% away from it. We will try and bring it into the garment,” she says.

Their set up is accredited for social responsibility and ethical trading, and designed to provide large quantities of garments. Business is moving away from them though. Although their business is 35 years old and their internal processes and management are streamlined as much as possible, operating in and from India means turnaround times are slower than competitors in other countries. Fast fashion demands more. Madan says buyers’ approach is, “we want to copy Zara and we want to be really fast and Zara is really fast because they buy from Turkey.”

Madan’s mother is the production manager at the company. It’s a challenging role. Managing the workforce is approached in two ways – the entire workforce prays together once a week, and it’s also important to let workers know when tasks aren’t completed properly. “At the end of the day you’re dealing with uneducated people,” says Madan. “So that means that they don’t understand what it means – they just know that they’re going to get money at the end of the month. [We try to explain that] the more you make, the more you earn for us, the more we can pay you – they don’t understand that concept so they try to while away the time.”

Many of our clothes in Australia are produced in China and India. Generally it is considered that China is faster and cheaper, and India is more expensive on some items and commerce is less organised, so delivery is slower. “The government is trying to get more organised, for example in China the route from factories to ports is very defined, they are investing in increasing export for China. In India it’s a little bit more haphazard.” India is also considered to have better conditions for workers. “In China they’ll work day and night. In India there are so many unions that if they don’t have comfortable conditions they are not going to work," says Madan.

From Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s (HKTDC) point of view, India is an important new consumer market. “I think India is one of the emerging markets,” says The Hon. Vincent Fang, Chairman of HKTDC. “I think a lot of people are putting a lot of emphasis on India, especially now with the US economy. The European economy is not strong. The only place for expansion (of course everyone is watching China) but I think besides China, the emerging markets India and Brazil are very, very important. I think actually Hong Kong TDC is putting a lot of energy and resources into developing these emerging markets which I think is a smart move.”
Source: The Vine