Kuala Lumpur Fashion Runway Talk

November 28th, 2006 • Related • Filed Under

I was privileged to be invited to attend two shows at the recent Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week and I must say, it is with great pride that we share with you coverage of some of Malaysia’s best talents. Although 48 designers showed their creative designs and talents in this recent show, we will only be highlighting some of emmagem’s favorites.

On the 11th November 2006, we saw the likes of Amanda Brown whose speciality is in denim, Calvin Thoo in evening and cocktail, Maya Silk by Carven Ong in their silk collection and Dominique Chan’s grand bordering on grandiose bridal wear accompanied by some really rocking runway music.

It was gratifying to watch Amanda’s collection as it was simple in cut and design but yet shows the versatility of denim, from funky jackets with tassels worn over tights to short, extremely short shorts worn over tights and boots right down to a slinky evening dress with a Hispanic twist with mermaid hemline and a big crochet flower.

Calvin Thoo, brought in the colors with his array of cocktail minis and slinky elegant evening numbers. What was amazing was also he used the older models, whom I must say, really added a touch of class to the collection. Raja Azura, Grace and a couple of others, these ladies really gave the younger and newer models a good run of the runway. His clean sleek lines and super feminine short blue number with long bell sleeves and low V neckline is this writer’s favorite. It was simple yet brings out the beauty of the model. For the long evening numbers, he had a low back black number with feather trim, tres chic. Calvin played on details like embroidered halter necklines, embroidered V necklines, big bows, lots of feathers whil;st keeping the line lean and very, very slim. He had singer Nurul wear his piece de resistance and his speciality, a strapless a line gown with a long veil.

Maya Silk, showed the versatility of silk, especially lovely was the long evening gown with brown and gold vertical stripes and worn with a small bolero shrug. Very slimming, very elegant. Carven Ong, the designer showed a collection that made silk very wearable and elegant.

Dominique Chan rocks the show with his rock and roll attitude to the very grand bridal wear. It was like watching Marie Antoinette in different versions version of her favorite gowns and he did culminate the collection with a Marie Antoinette like piece worn by model Raja Azura. It was a very tall order because she slipped and fell probably from the weight of the dress but more so from the slippery runway which the organizers overlooked as she wasn’t the only one who had a slip up although hers was the most serious. But like a queen she rose regally, albeit with a little struggle and some concern help from other models and ended a fabulous collection.

On the 12th November 2006, we saw Donna Chew’s collection. Donna played with a lot of hemlines and see through chiffon and georgettes. The interesting touch was the sewn in skin colored slips that came with these cocktail dresses. It’s now you see it, now you don’t little teasers of dresses… very sexy, yet very functional. The first piece was breathtaking, gold halter with a bubble skirt, sweet and yet very alluring at the same time.
She had Grecian hemlines rather than necklines and lots of ruching which is almost a specialty of hers, see the green number. She also had beautiful off shoulder layered black piece with diagonal strips of cloth sewn together that was like a cascade of dried volcano lava. Hot.

Jonathan Cheng served us metallic gold at its funkiest; he matched short metallic jackets with bootleggers and boots, with shorts, with frou frou skirts. Male models never looked manlier. Faux fur shrugs with leopard printed dresses, with fitted jacket and thigh high boots… my kind of funk.

Etho, a stalwart of batik, showed batik versatility in traditional cheongsam, worn as a pareo, worn a short cocktail dress and also as eveningwear. But the batik on the men was his master piece, casual and yet stylish at the same time.

Fang (Singaporean based in Malaysia), the winner of the Australian, Mercedes award 2006 recently, showed, her signature collection of soft, long flowing lines of tops and pants. They were sheer, they were sexy and they were wearable. My favorite was an off should top matched with a short skirt, although another slinky piece in black that looked like it was worn over nothing, leaves a lot to the imagination and yet, still look modest. Her collections suggests as opposed to revealing. Sensuous as opposed to sexy! Pants had slits at the hemline for more flow lines and she also played with details like plaiting on bodice and the shoulders…

These are some of Malaysia’s creative talents at its best. Watch out for them…

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