Hong Kong Design Centre recently hosted Fashion Asia 2017 as part of the annual Business of Design Week (BODW). Showcasing ‘Asia’s 10 top designers to watch for in 2017’ and featuring a talk on ‘Fashion Challenges’ by the top names in the industry, the event was a most comprehensive guide to Asia’s top fashion trends and directions.
The exhibition, running from 5 to 12 December at PMQ, showed the work of some of Asia’s top outstanding talents. Those who made it to the top of the list are: The World is Your Oyster and Yat Pit from Hong Kong; Helen Lee, Masha Ma, SHUSHU/TONG, Simon Gao and Ximon Lee from China; Christian Dada and Sulvam from Japan; and Sirloin from Japan and Sweden.
The panel discussion on Fashion Challenges saw fashion moguls from all walks of the industry coming together to discuss the opportunities and challenges that face the fashion industry today.
Vivienne Tam, fashion designer; Jimmy Choo, footwear fashion designer; Ann-Sofie Johansson, creative advisor, H&M; Caroline Issa, CEO, TANK Group; Sophie Brocart, senior vice president of Fashion Ventures, LVMH; were among the 40 international speakers who addressed current issues such as the continual rise of China, the digital transformation of retail and collaboration beyond fashion.
One of the most-discussed topics at Fashion Asia was sustainable fashion. We caught up with Ann-Sofie Johansson, H&M’s chief creative advisor, to learn more. According to her, “To continue successful business models, fashion needs to take the leap into the future and embrace sustainability. We want to lead the change at H&M with our vision of fulfilling our sustainability goals by 2040. The key is collaboration and innovation”. To this end, H&M Foundation has already come up with an innovation to recycle blended textiles, in collaboration with The Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA).
One thing was clearly revealed at Fashion Asia 2017. Fashion is at the cusp of embracing some huge changes in the coming decades with more emphasis on sustainability, gender and body positivity and increasing importance of online retail. Fashion, as we know it, is changing and Asian fashion is definitely in the limelight.
Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay
Photos: Gigi Ip