Busy Week in Kuala Lumpur

Tangoo

Malaysian - International Fashion Week 2006, a new title for what was once Kuala Lumpur Asian Fashion Week has finished again for another year. As a welcome relief, this year it was all held at the one venue, the KL Convention Centre so no more running from one side of the twin towers to the other. The festival has taken on a new impetus perhaps driven in some way by the loss of one of its major backors, Mercedes Benz. I want to discuss this loss to the fashion industry so will try to find out more if possible and will look to the Amatas forum for comments from anyone who knows more about what they are planning.

The week started off with a private showing by Bernard Chandran where he has opened his latest store at KL Plaza. Marred in some way by the lack of good lighting, the collection itself
showed his considerable talent as one of Malaysia's foremost designers.

The rest of the show had been divided over 4 days that gave a great coverage of all that Malaysia has to offer.

Day 1. The day was kicked off early in the morning by the collections of the Padini Group of labels followed by Albert King that featured (as did a number of the other shows) shoes by Lewre that had been designed using Swarovski jewelry. This was followed by a show by Carven Ong with his "Sense" collection. Next was the quirky "Post-apocalyptic" collection by Cris Yong that was follwed by the Marks and Spencer range.

The evening saw amongst others the fabulous collections of Melinda Looi pictured above with yours truly as one of the KL 6 as they are being promoted internationally. This show also included Edmund Ser, Eric Choong, Michael Ong, Sonny San and the doyen of Malaysian fashion, Tom Abang Saufi.

Day 2. Respectably the day started in the afternoon with the Mens wear with several designers including Edmund Ser and William Liew. That was followed by shows by Frank Lai and Tangoo. later shows had a collection of wedding gowns from several designers and then an evening show for Corus watches.

Day 3. The morning held a workshop on Malaysian craft and then a full afternoon with 14 designers from the Islamic Fashion Festival showing off their collections.

Day 4, the last day started off with collections from 4 up and coming designers follwoed by the Villiam Ooi collection and then another group show.

The evening had an early show featuring Kraftangan Malaysia atended by HRH the Queen. Famous shoe designer to the stars Jimmy Choo was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Minisiter for Culture Hertiage and the Arts.

The last show for the day was presented by Mercedes and had 8 young designers vying for their fashion awards.

All in all a busy week. We have all the shows featured on the website and I invite you to take a look.

Take some time out and join the Amatas Fashion Forum and give your comments on the various collections. We might even be able to get the designers to give their responses if you are polite.