4 Asian designers to watch

Asia design means more than deconstructed hoodies and black & white combos on the catwalk. Asia means colours, innovation, new textures, graphics, new raw fabrics and so on. This season I have discovered 4 new names and their cool designs. Here are 4 Asian designers to watch.

Helen Lee – created in 2011 by Li Hongyan, based in Shaghai, China, is a brand “for strong, independent, adventurous, but also feminine characters, for those open-minded and curious for anything new, willing for challenges, adventures and discoveries”. I just loved the white shirts (no suprise here) and the shinny blue jackets. https://helenleefashion.com/about/

Simon Gao – located in Beijing, China, the brand was established in 2012 (when his designer was awarded with China new designer of the year). As his designer said, “the brand is infused with global avant-garde contemporary art, culture, music, religion and architecture. Combining elegant yet avant-chic and powerful styles, adopting a clean tailoring, mixing both soft and hard fabrics with new materials, the brand creates a hyper-modern silhouette”. Cool theatrical setup and clothes for SS18 collection! http://www.simon-gao.com/index.php?m=Introduction&a=index&id=8

Sulvam – mostly for men, but with few cool pieces for women, the SS18 collection of the designer is one worth looking at. The designer Teppei Fujita founded the brand in 2014, after a stage as a pattern maker at Yohji Yamamoto. The firts collection was launched in 2014 A/W in Japan. http://www.sulvam.com

Ximon Lee – interesting layers I saw in the Asian collection for the season is up to begin. He is a Berlin-based, New York-trained Korean designer and raised in Hong Kong His XimonLee collections have been shown in New York, Paris and, the last two to critical acclaim under GQ China’s sponsorship, at London Fashion Week Men. The designer received the H&M design award in 2015. http://www.ximonlee.com/shop

These 4 designers are part of FASHION ASIA HONG KONG initiative, launched in 2016 by Hong Kong Design Centre with strong support from CreateHK in consultation with the Advisory Group Fashionand presented at TRANOÏ 2018 through an ephemeral pop-up exhibition at Carreau du Temple. (www.tranoi.com)

Photography: Facebook pages of brands

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