VFW 2017 vows a ‘jaw-dropping show’

A bevy of Asian designers, with huge fan bases, will highlight the Vancouver Fashion Week extravaganza that opens next week.

“The selected designers will give a sneak peek at their latest and greatest designs, as to deliver a spectacular jaw-dropping show,” said the show’s founder Jamal Abdourahman, Western Canada’s unsung hero of fashion.

“These designers have their own unique and distinctly captivating look,” said Abdourahman, who started Vancouver Fashion week in 2011. Entering its 18th year and 29th season VFW is now the longest running fashion show in Canada attracting major media from around the world, including the likes of Marie Claire, CNN and Vogue.

This year’s seven- day event is being held from 20th March to 26th March 2017 at the Chinese International Cultural Centre in Vancouver.

“We continue to build our international presence through global media coverage and this allows excellent exposure for supporting designers and partners,” said Abdourahman, who has been tapped to orchestrate a similar show in New York.

Here is a sneak peek of designers spanning from arious parts of Asia who will be showcasing their stunning pieces at Vancouver Fashion Week, the West Coast's most prestigious industry event.

JAPAN - MACHIO MIZUMACHI pops onto the VFW stage with an attention-grabbing collection that will delight and wow anyone who sees it. The designs express a mix of street styles and influences, used as inspiration while creating. Machio Mizumachi makes use of a peculiar sense of color, and focuses on the deconstruction and reconstruction of clothing in this line.

The collection shown explores this Reconstruction and Deconstruction of both popular and local styles unique to Osaka. Pieces are harmoniously coordinated while also being given an eccentric sense of color. The clothing styles presented fluctuate between current fashions and unusual tastes, drawing inspiration from a past generation of strength during the 80’s, and 90’s.

JAPAN – WILDFRÄULEIN71 is set to stop the show, with a surreal line that is based on the keyword: unrealistic-reality. Inspired by different feelings we have which are continuously connected to what we are wearing. Unrealistic-reality is whom we want to be, elegant, transient, strong, beautiful, dangerous. Self-taught designer Roop, works to show these elements using Japanese influences, as well as through his production and style. As a designer, he is inspired by vintage/antique clothing from all over the world, showing these values in all of his pieces to give them a sophisticated and timeless look.

TAIWAN – TSUNG YU CHAN presents us with a variation of coutures, spanning from Europe to Asia. In a collection that reflects the status of the human mind via the mediums of poetry and modern menswear. Inspiration for the “Ⅱ” line is drawn from photography of riots, using a mix of rioter and military style in the collection. Tsung Yu Chan utilizes 100% natural fabrics in his designs, mixed with modern Taiwanese technological fabrics, traditional Asian embroidery skill, and digital prints as well. Through his exploration of cultures, his aim is to combine traditional Taiwanese and modern technique to create a brand new style, one which focuses on poetry and life experiences as well.

KOREA - HANGJUN JO graduated from The Glasgow School of Art with a BA in Fashion esign, resulting in a specialization in womenswear. His tasteful sense of colour, print creation and structural comprehension translate into contemporary casualwear with elegance and masculinity. Hangjun’s artistic background encourage interesting prints and cuts, which allow a unique and detailed result. The designer will be launching his independent label, l HANGJUN JO.

KOREA - ALOGON is a designer label producing new designs with a focus directed towards mood, artistic sensitivity, freedom, and ingenious creativity. Many of today’s designers reside within the world of minimalism, following a prescribed and generally accepted path that is culturally suggested by years of tradition. Alogon however, breaks away from the traditional market so as to be recognised as an individual production system, by experimenting and developing countless silhouettes, while making use of new materials, and exquisite, sophisticated detail in all of their creations.

PHILLIPINES - PAGTÁNOM Fall-Winter 2017 is a tribute which showcases one of many rituals that shapes Philippine farming. Pagtánom (transplanting) is one of the rituals done one month after the act of pagsábod (sowing). This season, we interpret and pay homage to one of the many processes that are necessary for Filipino farmers, and their labor of love. The collection implements the usage of pure Philippine cotton, woven by Bontoc weavers from Baguio City, and piña shifu crafted in Kalibo, Aklan. The collection features hand embroidered prayers by rice planters for their seedlings to grow luxuriantly, as well as including the early Filipino farmer’s helper and patron – the stars and the moon – into the design. Each piece is a page of culture immortalized in fabric and pays a romantic reverence to creative Filipino artisanship in a contemporary lifestyle.

JAPAN – STUDIO MEMBRANE kicks off the Fall/Winter season with a bang at VFW, showcasing their highly innovative and cutting-edge fashions, which define a clear relationship

between the body and its environments. In his collection, titled 'Will to Walk,' STUDIO MEMBRANE designer Hiroaki Tanaka aims to inspire a feeling of power through his wearable pieces as they change color while walking. His main material, canvas, is not a traditional cloth used for oil paintings, but instead consists of disposed material such as used cloth, which also helps to express his theme of regenerating the body.