You know, I am trying to write an article on local designer wear and how wearable they are, but really are they? I mean, when designers win awards, it is based on creativity and originality in fabrication and design. They really don’t say grade anything on practicality do they? You see it on TV, fashion designers who create their own designer fabric by shooting fireworks at chiffon and gunshot residue is considered designer print, and anything that is shown on the runaway and printed out for the public is only for the public to marvel at, but most, except for the most diehard and true creative souls and fashionistas will shake their head at wearing these weird designs. What would really make a designer’s design win both awards and also from potential customers are just wearable clothes?

I believe that most of us, did not realize that whilst designers show their creativity at awards show and showcase a collection that may seem ultra wild. Most designers actually mostly just inject elements from their showcase collection into the pieces that goes on to the selling floor. Customers and clients then get to buy pieces which will be unique to each designer but not so that by wearing them you will be labeled as ET. That’s why they have the haute couture and showcase runway shows for each season, setting the theme  for their ready to wear collections with designs  that are distinctively wearable.

For the last year or so, I have been frequenting the Creations by Malaysian Designer corner at Sungei Wang Plaza to do my shopping. An avid fan of imported bridge brands like MNG and Zara and Dorothy Perkins and some local brands, I have come to realize that ready- to- wear local designers are actually just as good a deal if not better. The price that we pay for isn’t that much more but the big advantage is in the fact that there are only a few pieces of each item, sometimes just 3 pieces per style and for the same amount of money, you can actually pick up one or two really special pieces that will just make your everyday wardrobe look just that little bit more special and leaving your mark to all whom you meet.

I have picked up some really marvelous pieces in my sojourns there like that nice piece of beaded belt for RM129 from Donna C to dress up my ordinary jeans or spruce up a shirt, a nice bias cut skirt that makes me feel like Audrey Hepburn every time I wear it at RM159 and my precious hand drawn skirt from Donna C’s to wear with a simple tee for shopping or with a nice blouse to a wedding. Since mass brands tend to stick to the silhouette (shape and cut) that sells well, it means that you could end up buying the same shape skirt in different fabrication for next couple of seasons, but with designers’ collection each piece can be quite unique. They are in fact, collectibles.

The fact that each piece is specially designed according to the designer’s theme means that it is really a “creation’ of the designer .

I am, of course privileged to know Donna Chew, winner of Malaysia’s New Generation Designer in KL Fashion Week 2005, as well as a newly converted fan. Over a cup of coffee one day, we sat down to discuss what it is like being a fashion designer in Malaysia. I have always been curious as to how our local designers fare in this very competitive fashion retailing industry.

Business is alright and each designer has their own regular clientele base. There is a lack of awareness of what the local designers do although the last couple of years with the laudable efforts of KL Fashion Week and MIFA and the activities of MODA has seen amore publicity being given to their creations. But even though going through tough times, these designers persist, holding on to their dreams and punctuate the mundane daily lives of the nation’s attire with their aesthetic visions. And, hope that one day the fashion scene will be different and the cash will pour in. There are concerns on some quarters that there appears to be no second tier  of young designers after the current team, like Melinda Looi, Jonathan Cheng, Khoon Hooi. William Liew, Villiam Ooi, Rizalman, Donna C and Calvin Thoo, the stalwarts of local Malaysian fashion.

Will Malaysia’s ambition to be in the fashion forefront be stumped prematurely due to a lack of continuity in talent management which by the way, is in no short supply. I suppose the lack of economic sustenance and glory must be very terrifying to anyone wanting to start in the industry.

Why isn’t sales picking up? Are theirs very expensive clothes because they are “designer pieces” or maybe designers really don’t design wearable clothes? Well, I think the answer lies in the education of consumers on these brands to enable them to want to experiment. A certain adventurous spirit needs to be in them already, in order that they try and sample these pieces. Perhaps designers also need to understand that creativity needs to be tampered with sensibility. However, too much sensibility will just make them normal and no longer worthy of being labeled a designer and all that it construes.

Price isn’t the issue but it is about value for money and affordability.  It is about creating our own identity both for designer and the wearer. And for me dressing up in something unique is such a joy in itself, that I believe that I will be making many trips to this little treasure trove, to spruce up my otherwise ordinary attire, hey, even mundane work gets interesting when you dress nice. It’s like having a secret candy bar in your handbag, gives you these secretive smile, twinkle in the eye and move as if with great anticipation of some great secret, guaranteed to  make others eye you with envy.

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