Rojak Fashion ?

Vietnamese designer Pham Nguyen Hoang Thien Toan’s
collection was inspired by traditional values and the bamboo.

When Asian motifs cross-fertilise with Western styles at a Berlin fashion fair, the results can be a rather weird, yet appetising, new dish.

IT wasn’t quite Zhang ZiYi’s memorable dance from Memoirs of a Geisha. But the opening geisha dance to kick off InFashion during the Asia-Pacific Week 2007 in Berlin clearly hinted at the exotic appeal of the east.

For three days in late autumn last year, Kosmos, a preserved cinema along Karl-Marx Allee in former East Berlin was turned into a fashion catwalk.

For the first time during a German fashion fair, 20 promising fashion designers from China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand were invited to showcase their work in Berlin. There was a clear exchange of influences, in line with InFashion’s goal of highlighting how Asian and Berlin fashion designers were inspiring each other.

Rather than focusing on successful Asian designers such as Tokyo-born Rei Kawakubo (who has 300 Comme des Garcons stores worldwide) or Korean-American Doo-ri Chung (proclaimed as among the most talented of the new generation of designers) the organisers wanted only fresh, unknown designers.

Chinese designers dominated the catwalk, as there were eight of them out of the invited 20. Some of the parades down the catwalk were such a mad mix of styles they became a spectacle for the wrong reasons.

There were extravagant Oriental inspired flows of Chinese silks in lavish gowns worthy to be showcased in Curse of the Golden Flower. Shanghai designer Qu Tingnan combined extravagant Chinese embroidery with the pomposity of European ball gowns.

Then there was Beijing designer Chu Yan whose frothy layers of silk were draped over sequined swimwear-like apparel. There was even a stuffed baby panda perched over the shoulder of a Scottish Highland-inspired checked kilt. Strange? Yes. Inspiring? No.

InFashion was organised by Berlin-based company Fashion Patrons and supported by fashion school Esmod Germany and The House of World Cultures. Since early last year, a search was launched to find promising fashion designers from Asia Pacific.

“Through the Goethe Institutes in Asian cities, we received 150 applications. We chose 20 designers whom we believe represent the new fashion face of Asia,” explained Fashion Patron director Klaus Metz to Asian Pacific journalists attending the event.

“Each designer had to have a series of 50 completed outfits and have two years in their respective markets. Creativity was vital. Asia has a vibrant explosion of growth as of late. I am convinced that Europe and Asia will have more mutual influences in future especially in the creative industries. Technology and travel will further propagate this.”

“A fashion designer stands out from the masses when they have a very personal view of creativity and life. Fashion should deeply interest you to a high level of passion. Only with profound experience and confidence can a designer be different.”

He added that it would not have been financially possible for a young designer just starting their career to introduce a collection to European markets.

“We hope this helps them get a foothold into the market.”
Mysterious Malaysian

Malaysia was represented by Chee Au. Haven’t heard of her? Well, neither have we! The Malaccan-born designer is refreshingly media-shy, and keeps an unusually low profile.

Born the fifth of seven girls, Chee’s parents constantly kept them busy with sketchbooks and colouring pencils. At seven years, Chee was sewing wedding gowns for her Barbie doll inspired by Princess Diana’s 1981 royal wedding.

She enrolled at the famed Parsons School of Design in New York (the same school that had produced designers like Zang Toi) and majored in fashion design. Roped into Kenzo upon graduation, Chee worked with renowned designers including Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, Anne Klein and Nicole Miller. In 2005, she launched her self-named label in Hong Kong, which is her current base.

Till today, Chee Au is unknown in Malaysia despite having opened a Paris boutique. She refuses to have any publicity, not even a phone or email interview with us as she was attending a conference during InFashion.

“To Chee Au, it’s about the clothes, not about the designer, as is the current popular scenario in the fashion world,” insisted Daniel Henry, Chee Au’s fashion stylist who represented her in Berlin.

”Her clothes are about playing with construction and contrasts. It’s about quality workmanship in luxury fabrics. There are a lot of Asian elements as a tribute to Chee Au’s homeland. She had luxurious wool cashmere pieces lined with understated silk cotton. Strong lines and triangular shapes inspired by traditional Malaysian songket designs are applied to soft, feminine silhouettes.

“The theme for Berlin was Mysterious. The pieces accentuate the female form. Lots of cotton and silks were used and we played on the concept of smocking.”

But for Pham Nguyen Hoang Thien Toan, one of Vietnam’s foremost young designers, traditional values were an important thread running through his modern urban design style, which was themed Tre or Bamboo.

Models sashayed down the catwalk twirling conical woven grass hats that contrasted with dresses of organza, taffeta, linen and silk featuring traditional Vietnamese embroidery.

“My designs represent true Vietnamese values, my people and the countryside,” he said.

“Bamboo symbolises Vietnamese values of bravery and determination. Padi fields are also a frequent inspiration in my clothes because they awaken a strong sense of space and shape.

There are often embroideries with rice motifs and the sun. I hope I can introduce some of Vietnam’s beautiful landscapes and our indomitable spirit through my designs.”

Why New York Fashion Week won't be banning skinny models

As they stride down the catwalk with their long, slender legs, they seem almost perfect and in a way untouchable, these young women who will be showing off the creations of the top couturiers during the New York Fashion Week that starts today.

But now these much-admired models - for many years icons for millions of women - are having a critical eye cast on them.

"How thin is too thin - and how thin is potentially fatal?" is the question on many lips.

The death from anorexia of Brazilian supermodel Ana Carolina Reston at the age of 21 has caused consternation in the fashion world.

Just as sad was the case of Luisel Ramos, who broke down with heart failure at the age of 22 during a show in Montevideo, after she had recently lost a full 12kg.

In Italy and Spain measures have been taken to keep over-thin models off the ramp, and the theme has become a hot topic in the USfashion industry.

The industry does not want young women to starve themselves tobecome a "parade of skeletons," as Italian designer ValentinoGaravani has put it.

Three weeks before the New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), which represents 280 influential designers and is headed by Diane von Fuerstenberg, published a set of guidelines.

There has been long discussion ahead of this "health initiative"on whether there should be a ban on underweight models with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of under 18. The BMI is calculated by dividing the mass of the body in kilogrammes by the square of the height in metres.

The World Health Organization regards a BMI of under 18.5 as indicating underweight.

But the CFDA in the end decided not to press the issue, saying the intention was not to impose controls but to raise consciousness overthe issue.

Some models were by nature thin, while eating disorders were complex and often had a psychological or social background, it said.

In concrete terms this means that the modelling industry is not to blame.

The CFDA instead issued recommendations that anorexic models should receive professional help and be told about the dangers of starvation in workshops.

And backstage there should be sufficient healthy snacks for themodels to enjoy.

Models should also not be under the age of 16 and models younger than 18 should not work after midnight.

There is thus no ban on skinny models at the New York Fashion Week this year. Any such ban would have rendered many of the girls and their agencies unemployed.

One US survey put the average BMI for top models at 16.3.

Cathy Gould of the Elite modelling agency in North America expressed understanding for the Madrid decision, but added measures of this kind would be "discriminatory" in the case of modelsthat are extremely slim by nature.

David Bonnouvrier, head of DNA Models, takes a different view. "I am kicking and screaming about it now because this should be an industry of beauty and luxury, not famished-looking people that look pale and sick," he told the New York Times.

"We are minutes away from a catastrophe."

The message appears to be getting through - albeit slowly.

Linda Wells, editor of the magazine Allure, says: "What becomes alarming is when you see bones and start counting ribs."

Even supermodel Jessica Stam has expressed her concern. "I don'tknow if they are healthy or not, but I don't think the frail, fragile look is very feminine, and I don't think it's attractive," the 20-year-old Canadian says.

There are many who think like Stam. But Reston weighed just 40kg on her diet of tomatoes and apples just before her death and was nevertheless photographed for the Armani Catalogue.

By the time her agency L'Equipe sent her home, it was too late.

The stars, fashion scouts and stylists joining the rich in the front rows at the Fashion Week will not be able to discern how many of the catwalk models they are watching are suffering from eating disorders.

But perhaps they could take the time to visit the exhibition Dangerous Beauty in the Chelsea Art Museum.

Here a critical look is taken at how the beauty ideal is manipulated for mass consumption by means of exhibits that are sometimes shocking.

Those entering the exhibition first have to walk across a floor covered with bathroom scales.