Asia Weekly

Asian Fashion Trends

Fashionably Asian

New York's recent Fashion Week, Mecca to the world's "frockerati," saw a significant influx of designers from Asia, says Suzy Menkes in the International Herald Tribune. Models sporting styles from fresh names like Thai Thakoon Panichgul, Malaysian Zang Toi, Chinese-Americans Peter Som and Alexander Wang and Korean-American Richard Chai strutted down the hottest catwalks in town. "But like ‘the Japanese'" that defined style in the 1980s, "the current ‘Asians,'" are largely based in the US and "don't necessarily think of themselves as a homogenous group," says Menkes. But "their sheer number raises the questions: Why so many? And why now?"

As much as it appears fashion is diversifying, the "Asian Wave" is more about the region's newfound wealth, says Jeff Yang in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Twenty years ago, you could essentially count the number of Asian designers in the tents on a pair of chopsticks. Now they make up a disproportionate percentage of the fashion landscape." This doesn't mean that horizons are broader - "there's been no corresponding surge in designers of African and Latin origin or ancestry, for instance... fashion is a business, and as such, the only color that's always a la mode is green." It's no coincidence that Vogue China's launch 2005 "coincided" with the country passing the 300,000-millionaire mark, notes Yang.

But pandering to global markets is risky, especially for US-based designers like Panichgul, says Vanessa O'Connell in The Wall Street Journal. The US economy is on the rocks, so picking up stylish frocks at US shows is like taking candy from babies. Though designers can tweak their fashions to appeal to foreign buyers, like lowering skirt hems to appease conservative tastes, there is still "no guarantee emerging markets such as Russia or China will continue to grow." This hasn't stopped some designers from strengthening ties with the Asian market - Vera Wang leases a warehouse near Hong Kong "to speed shipments to Far East customers," says O'Connell.

 

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