Bonjour KL: My lunch date with THE one and only Jimmy Choo

My love for shoes is well-documented on this blog, and with over 100 pairs of heels neatly labeled, boxed and squeezed into my bedroom, it’s safe to say I am a little bit obsessed with foot candy.

If you would have asked me which designer I would love to meet one day it would always be a shoe designer. Whether an icon like Manolo Blahnik whose comfy and classic pumps I’ve been wearing for years, Nicholas Kirkwood who creates some beautiful well-constructed and quirky shoes or even Christian Louboutin whose red soles tempt me every time I’m in his Paris boutique and I end up with an empty wallet!

But with all due respect to the above designers, there is only one designer who stands out for me. His name is synonymous with shoes and his work has transcended generations. In short, he is probably the first real superstar shoe icon of our modern times: Mr Jimmy Choo.

A moment to treasure: Meeting up with shoe legend Mr Jimmy Choo! 

Audi Star Creation 2013: Introducing the 12 Finalists – Part 2

Last week, I’ve introduced the first 6 of the 12 finalists of Asian fashion design competition, Audi Star Creation.

Today I follow up with the rest of them to give you a hint on these young aspiring designers’ ideas and inspirations – as well as sketches!

I’ll be looking forward to seeing their full collections on the runway at next month’s Audi Fashion Festival and find out who will eventually win the competition.

But despite the fact there can only be 3 winners, it is important to remember that these 12 designers were picked from 355 entries from around Asia and thus getting this far is an accomplishment in itself.

Here’s hoping that regardless of the results, all these talents would get eventually discovered and endorsed by someone who will be able to turn their dreams – and hard work – into reality.

An interesting and futuristic design by Vietnamese finalist Ngo Hoang Kha  

Beauty is in the details for MILS AW13 menswear collection

 When it comes to menswear I think most of you would agree that it’s all in the details. I mean how many varieties of shirts, t-shirts, trousers or even man-skirts can you invent?

Singapore designer Sunny Lim of MILS demonstrates that perfectly in his latest AW13 collection which plays on details that you’ll have to look closer to admire.

I admit, when I first saw the photos I’ve mistaken the colourful chiffon appliqué details on some of the pieces for acrylic prints. But it was only when I bumped into Sunny wearing one of the shirts that I noticed the intricacy of these details and unexpected texture they added to a plain white shirt.

From its first collection debuted at Parco next NEXT – as part of their incubator program last year – MILS stood out for its interesting take on luxury menswear. Like most of the menswear designers in Asia, he favours a deconstructed look but what sets him apart is that he does it while keeping a certain maturity to the looks or at least the basic pieces like suits and shirts. As a result and despite the overly stylized manner it is presented on the catwalk, the clothes are still very wearable for someone who is looking for alternative twist to his basic wardrobe.

Collar details like this printed chiffon applique take a simple white
shirt to a new level!

At first this looks like a digital print but when you look closer you see
that it is a chiffon piece sewn over the shirt. Cool isn't it?

Audi Star Creation 2013: Introducing the 12 Finalists – Part 1

Almost a year ago I had the pleasure of doing what I love doing best on this blog. Namely, talking to 12 aspiring designers from around Asia as they made it to the finalists list of Audi Star Creation competition.

For a few weeks in a row, I ran interviews with each and every one of them, got to know more about their inspiration and approach and finally saw their creations come to life on the catwalk at Audi Fashion Festival (AFF).

Fast forward one year and here is another batch of talents for this year’s competition and while I won’t be interviewing them at this stage, I wanted to at least introduce these designers and some of their sketches and ideas as something to look forward to at AFF.

It’s worth noting that the 12 finalists who made it came from different parts of Asia including China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and even Mongolia – and each has displayed some great potential which I leave for you to judge.

So here’s a little about the first 6 finalists and will be introducing the rest next Wednesday 17^th April so keep watching this space!!!

(For more about the competition and last year’s finalists and winners, click on this link)

A sketch from Malaysian finalist Jean Teoh

Bonjour KL: Young aspiring Malaysian designers steal the show at the country's International Shoe Festival

Shoes, shoes shoes… my recent (and maiden!) trip to Malaysia has turned out to be all about shoes!

And I don’t mean just shoe shopping! Although that was firmly on my list to do (check out my love for Malaysian shoe labels here), believe it or not, I got to do more interesting shoe-related stuff namely attending the annual Shoe Festival in Kuala Lumpur and meeting shoe legend Jimmy Choo for lunch!

I’ll discuss the latest in another post as I still need to get my head around the fact I was with the Godfather of glamorous shoes himself!!!! But today it’s going to be all about the talented students I met at the 4^th International Shoe Festival and the utterly inspiring shoes they displayed!

The Shoe Festival seemed more like a museum with showpieces like
this Dragon-inspired pump which just loved!

Another extravagant design on display at the Shoe Festival...

But while some went all out, others kept it more simple yet inspiring.
I especially loved these booties!!!

Love these shoes made from recycled material by promising student Soo Tzu Hoo!
I WANT!!! (check a lot more photos below)