Asia's got talent

Young designers from six Asian countries are currently projecting their ideas and culture in a Bangkok exhibition that aims to promote the Asian fashion industry to the global community.
“Asian Fashion Avenue @ Siam Center”, as the event is titled, is showing on the first floor of the shopping complex through the end of the month and is a joint effort between the Asia Fashion Federation (AFF) and its Thai member, the Thai Garment Manufacturers Association.
Part of the annual Asia Fashion Federation (AFF) Bangkok Conference 2014, the exhibition showcases the masterpieces of up-and-coming designers from Thailand, Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore and Vietnam. In line with the “Asian Rising Fashion” concept, the collections are not just made from Thai textile but also present a hint of each designer’s particular culture.
Chinese designer Zhao Huizhou, the founder and chief designer of Eachway Fashion Group, presents “Deep-sea Romance”, a collection that focuses on the balance between innovation and wearableness. The outfits create a feminine image that is classic, elegant and free from conventionality.
Chief executive of Artistmade, South Korea’s Hey Jin Hong’s “Sound Wave” is inspired by a visualisation of sound that the designer describes as “See what I wanna hear.”
Japanese designer, Takuya Morikawa, who has worked as a designer for Issey Miyake’s Paris Collection, today has his own label “TaaKK”. His autumn and winter 2014 collection on the theme “Reality and Unreality” is inspired by one degree of separation from the everyday.
Singaporean designer Sabrina Goh, founder of Elohim, will be well known to Thailand’s fashionistras for her showcase at Vogue Fashion’s Night Out Bangkok 2013. She brings her “Hybrid/Homebred” autumn and winter 2014 collection to Bangkok and takes her inspiration from the architecture of Peranakan shophouses.
Thai designer, Siriorn Teankaprasith, who graduated from ESMOD in Paris, has been designing for Painkiller since 2005 and made her debut on the Thai fashion scene during her senior year at the leading fashion school. The collection won her a nomination as one of the 10 best ESMOD young designers and was shown in the Casabo section of the Pret-a-Porter fair in Paris.
For this exhibition, she presents “Words”, a spring and summer 2014 collection that’s inspired by the spiritual words tattooed on the body to give the wearer protection. The designer formed discreet but meaningful crossword tables and then embroidered these on her clothes.
Vietnamese designer, Nguyen Quoc Binh, one of the earliest winners of the Vietnam Collection Grand Prix, is known for bringing modern touches to traditional Vietnamese wear and has received many international awards for his achievements. The owner of the qb quoc binh brand, he displays his “Immaculation of the Lotus Lady” collection, which as the name implies, is inspired by the lotus.