As the cool breeze of autumn descends upon us, Macao Fashion Gallery is pleased to present the “Style‧Encounter Moment”—Fashion Exhibition of the 4th Subsidy Programme for Fashion Design on Sample Making. It will display outstanding works of local fashion designers who have participated in the “2016 Subsidy Programme for Fashion Design on Sample Making” by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government.
Eight individuals (team) will showcase their works at the exhibition, including Tam Chi Kit,Wai Chin Seong, Lo Ka Heng and Choi Wai Leng (team), Cheang Chi Tat, Peng Yun, Leong Man Teng, Wong Man Chon and Lao Ka Weng. Their works were selected by professional panels from a pool of submissions. Each designer will select two outfits to showcase at the exhibition, with the styles ranging from knitwear, stylish suits, dreamlike womenswear to evening wear and casual wear.
In 2013, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government launched the “Subsidy Programme for Fashion Design on Sample Making” for the first time. The objective is to foster creativity of local fashion design, encourage fashion designers to put together feasible and comprehensive marketing promotion plan, as well as stimulate the fashion industry to organize more business activities or participate in local and overseas fashion shows and events, thereby helping to improve the visibility and market competitiveness of the Macao fashion industry, promoting sustainable development of the local fashion design profession.
ZICS
Theme: “IN LINE”
The Brand:
ZICS was created in 2009. The designer only uses black, white, and grey colors to develop experimental themes, designing gender neutral styles that explore the possibilities of asymmetry and layers. ZICS collections had graced the catwalks of “Macao Fashion Festival” and “Hong Kong Fashion Week”. The designer loves to explore different creative forms, including stage costumes and fashion accessories.
Design Concept:
This collection is an extension of the latest ZICS Spring/Summer collection “IN LINE”. The “IN LINE” collection uses stripes as its main feature. The designer continues to display his love for black, white, and grey, putting stripes of these colours with sheer fabrics in many imaginative ways, whether traditional or irregular cuts. Each arrangement of stripes is formed meticulously, expressing the stylish and unique features of the feminine form.
“IN LINE” extends the design concept of the original “IN LINE” collection, using different stripes to create unique space, creating a distinctive atypical visual experience for the audience.
Salut, ça va?
Theme: Renaissance
The Brand:
The label was established in 2010. “Salut, ça va?” is French for “Hello, everything OK?” This warm hello is unhindered by time or style. The label also insists on timeless design styles that transcend time and trends, considering that all people should have their own style of dressing. Femininity in retro romantic style is the main theme for “Salut, ça va?”, nonchalantly radiating nostalgic French culture in every aspect. Each collection has daily wear and special occasion lines. It also provides custom-tailor services for both men and women clients.
Design Concept:
Just like the brand logo, the exhibition space uses black and white as its theme color. To match with the romantic style of the label, a romantic poem hand-written in marker-style calligraphy will be created as the backdrop. The exhibition is a renaissance of the particularly representative “Salut, ça va?” pieces created during its six years of history. Each collection is set in a 3D frame to capture its distinctive time reference. Butterflies signify the metamorphosis and growth of the label during those times. The overall clean and crisp look aims to give prominence to the distinctive beauty of each collection.
Soul
Theme: Soul
The Brand
Soul is a womenswear fashion label created in 2016. Soul adopts black and white as its theme, using high quality fabric, professional tailoring, and 3D cutting to create an asymmetric style which articulates the distinct personality and beauty of a curvy woman. The label aims to present the intelligence and individual charms of women while maintaining quality and comfort for the wearer.
Design Concept:
Soul, the theme of this collection, is created for women aged between 20 and 40. It is a collage of young people going after assertiveness, finding a way to live the real self, and embracing the feminine charm, thereby releasing their real steps. The experiences cumulate into a new vision, looking at life at a brand new perspective.
We are living in a kaleidoscopic world, materialistically abundant. In one’s life journey, urbanites always possess too many and too easy-to-get choices and frequently neglect to enrich their minds. Soul therefore decide to re-interpret black and white through this exhibition, by overlaying the colors on 3D cutting and asymmetric cutting to raise the request for something different and the desire for an enriched heart of the young women.
Worker Playground
Theme: Worker Playground Garage
The Brand
Worker Playground was found in 2010, a fashion label that reflects the street culture of Macao. The label uses the old Macau Workers Stadium as design concept and namesake, tying into the collective memory and sentiment of Macao people. The label focuses on menswear, using variations of classic style as theme, adding Macao elements such as Macao aviation history, rock-n-roll festival, Macao specialty sport Jai Alai and hockey, as well as Macao Grand Prix in the design of the clothes. By manifesting local culture, the label aims to localize classic style clothing, making them into a style that is different from what can be found elsewhere.
Design Concept:
Worker Playground is a fashion trend leading Macao label, adopting local history and culture as its theme, using them to interpret local stories from a fashion perspective. The label worked with Macao Grand Prix Organizing Committee in 2016 to create the “50th Macao Motorcycle Grand Prix” collection. Motorcycle therefore takes a leading role in this exhibition. The venue will be made into a garage that exudes an aura of masculinity and brawniness. All items are motorcycle wears, draping over cloth rack that resemble helmets and toolboxes, hoping to match the rugged style of Worker Playground.
Story is the soul of a brand because it gives the brand a life of its own. Behind every piece of creation, there always lies a touching story of how the designer create the products. Through a splash of color, a stitch of hem, or an accentuating accessory, the brands move the public with its fascinating stories while the customers by selecting the products can feel a sense of proud and is touched by the courage of the designers. With the development of the cultural creative industries, many Macao fashion labels of diverse design styles sprung up in Macao. Therefore, Macao Fashion Gallery organizes a “Brand Story—Macao Original Fashion Exhibition”, providing an opportunity for local fashion labels to showcase their products.
Through open call and selection by the adjudicating panel, six local fashion labels are selected to participate in this exhibition, including: MACON, JADE.L, Worker Playground, Soul, ZICS, and Salut ça va?. The designers will design their own display area at the Macao Fashion Gallery, showing their collections in their own creative settings. By integrating fashion art and interior design, the designers can fully illuminate their brand image and their distinctive characters. Each label deploys a different set of style and elements, such as hand-paint, logo, motorcycle, minimalistic, lines, and romance, to present their collection, turning the venue into a theatre of story-telling which allow the audience to savor the narratives behind the stories.
The exhibition will be held in three phases, featuring two fashion labels at every phase. MACON with its casual youthful artsy wears and JADE.L with its gender-neutral style will be the first on display. It will be followed by Worker Playground’s rugged casuals and Soul’s minimalistic fashion. The finale will feature the black and white aesthetics of ZICS and the romanticism of Salut ça va?. Some selected items will be on sales at the exhibition.
Brand Story—Macao Original Fashion Exhibition I
MACON
Theme: Young Traveler on the Road
The Brand:
MACON was created in 2013. It was the first Macao fashion label that online on TMall.com, the largest integrated online shopping platform in Asia. The MACON design concept goes around “Live Slow, Travel Light”. The label features simple comfortable clothes that emanates a neutral, artsy, and youthful look for its wearers.
Design Concept:
Things usually start in a very simple way. To find the same passion for the finer details in life, the one who loves to “get up and go”. MACON is creating a new world for you. We can sit leisurely together, feeling the beauty of life at a slow pace, experiencing our “small town” and life from a different angle. Through MACON, we create a personal trail and bring out the beauty of an individual.
JADE.L
Theme: Safety Corner
The Brand:
JADE.L was created in 2014. The label interprets neutral aesthetics through texture and design details, infusing personality into every piece of design work. “Be Yourself” is the design principle, believing that clothing does not represent trends, it is a vehicle to articulate unique sense of beauty and style, defining the neutral fashion beauty of Macao.
Design Concept:
Through observation, it is discovered that most people lack of sense of safety in their real life. They seldom smile, dwelling in a state of nervousness all the time. They are only able to find a true sense of self in the virtual world. This collection is inspired by construction sites, transforming commonly seen signs, safety belts, and colors onto fashion. It creates a sense of unease under the appearance of safety, and yet, still working hard to find a safe corner that one can belong to.
Fashion aficionados in different eras tend to sought after different fashion trends and popular styles. Owning a personal design label that is being loved by the market and thus becomes a hot trendy label is the dream of every fashion designer. There are many very talented and creative young people in Macao and they all have the same passion and aspiration, working hard to go after this very same dream.
“Diploma Programme for Fashion Design and Manufacturing” is the key education programme organized by CPTTM. The objective is to cultivate fashion design talents for Macao while improving the level of local fashion design expertise. It is an 18-month programme which covers fashion design, fashion illustration skills, use of fabrics, technical terms, tailoring techniques and marketing. It is a first step for people who want to become a professional in the fashion industry.
A total of ten students completed the 2015/2016 programme. They have, with their own two hands, created their first fashion collection for the graduation show. In order to encourage the efforts of this young fashion designers and to offer the public an opportunity to appreciate the works of this group of talents, the Macao Fashion Gallery has especially organized the “Transformation – Works Exhibition of Diploma Course in Fashion Design and Manufacturing” to showcase the first collection of these ten new fashion designers.
A total of 13 pieces from the ten graduates will be shown at the exhibition. Items in display include that of championCelestino Maria Cordova, who had also won the Best Academic Achievement Award; First Runner-Up Yuna Leong who has also won the Best Color Coordination Award; and Second Runner-up Mickey Che, who has also won the Grand Trendy Award. Other graduates include Wind Mo, Jessica Lam, Jasmine Lai, Kary Cheng, Mini Tai, Sasa Sam and Sleepy Ngan. Each piece is a work of art with distinctive design style and characteristics. Their creative inspirations are quite diversified, from Japanese culture to electronic music, architectural structure, and natural environment. Techniques being used included indigo dyeing, digital fabric printing, 3D printing, and many different or latest fabric and design elements. They made good use of what they have learned in class, integrating their knowledge into their individual sense of beauty, using their skillful hands and creative minds to turn their interpretation of fashion into reality.