Asia Fashion Today, complete book proposal by Douglas Bullis

Asia Fashion Today: Roots and Wings

Douglas Bullis

Section A: Query letter

Elevator Pitch — Asia Fashion Today

Half the human population lives in the great arc of fifteen nations between Japan and Mongolia. In 2023 their national garment industries produced over $1.5 trillion in sales of products ranging from fast fashion to high couture. These fifteen countries are home to over 300 fashion designers and 44 trade associations with 45,000 members. Some 263 accredited fashion schools have a collective attendance of over 1.1 million students aspiring to join the 282 brands presently sold in retail outlets. Over 70 Fashion Weeks each year are attended by thousands of trade buyers, media reporters, social influencers, film stars, and socialites. Over five million people a year view Fashion Week collections on television and YouTube, in which hundreds of talented designers showcase their latest ideas.

The Asian fashion market is half the world, yet there is not a single large-format illustrated book that reveals this bonanza of beauty. The last panoramic survey of the Asia Fashion world was my own Fashion Asia by Thames & Hudson released nearly a quarter-century ago. Enormous progress in the technology of recycling waste materials, style innovation, and marketing acumen have occurred since then. It is time for a fresh look, and there are millions of Asians and Westerners alike who will be delighted to discover a world of beauty they hardly know.

What will be in the book?

Here is a 66-page simplified mock-up of the envisioned book. The mockup features only one designer per country, and lacks front matter, sidebars, and elaborations by local experts. The complete book will feature five leading fashion designers each from Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and Mongolia.

The designers will address the readers directly, as if sitting in the same room. Each chapter will be prefaced by one-page summary written by a local expert, who will describe how fashion design has reached its present state of popularity in that country, and what locally produced fashions contribute to the national zeitgeist

Sidebars interspersed through the text will describe the role traditional garments play in modern fashion designers’ thinking — the cheongsam or qipao; Philippine terno A-line silhouette with panuela butterfly sleeves; the ao dai in Vietnam; the origin of Myanmar’s traditional asymmetrical decorative motifs in Buddhist temple art; the Malay baju kebaya,

baju kurung, and songkok cap; the Indo-Lankan saree, lehenga, dhoti, and shalwar kameez; and finally the Central Asian torgo cloak with deel wide silk cummerbund.

There will also be an eight to ten page presentation of Muslim Modest Wear designed in Indonesia and Malaysia which has larger sales in the Middle East than in their homelands.

Working Table of Contents

Foreword by an Asian fashion historian TBA

Author preface:

• How a forward-looking industry emerged from conservative garment traditions.

• How the Asian catwalk show has become a theatrical spectacle in addition to a garment parade.

• The significant environmental impact of Asian designers turning recycled waste plastic and discarded fast fashion into daily-wear profit streams.

• How village economies prosper as their ancient weaving styles are integrated into global fashion.

Japan JUN TAKAHASHI, TAMAI HIROKAWA, YUMI KATSURA

Two other designers TBA, one of them from the reinvented kimono school, and the other from the Harajuku District subculture.

SIDEBAR: The kimono’s history, and the modern kimono reinvention movement.

SIDEBAR: Harajuku male rebelliousness -vs- the female youth culture of “cute”.

China GUO PEI, HEAVEN GAIA (dba of Xiong Ying)

Three other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: The cheongsam aka qipao history and its influence on modern high fashion.

Taiwan SHIATZY CHEN, SOPHIE HONG

Three other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: The awang larat (unending clouds) design motif and Hsiang Hunan (Hunan silk) dyeing method

Hong Kong MARDIANA IKA, BONITA CHEUNG, BARNEY CHENG, WALTER MA

One other designer TBA

SIDEBAR: Hong Kong’s remarkable REDRESS garment recycling & reuse initiative.

Korea LIE SANGBONG

Four other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: How Korean designers’ recycle plastic waste into high couture.

SIDEBAR: The mutually reinforcing nexus between popular TV and global couture.

Philippines CARY SANTIAGO, PHILIP RODRIGUEZ, MARK BUMGARTNER, RAJO LAUREL

One other designer TBA

SIDEBAR: The Filipina terno silhouette and panuela butterfly sleeve.

Vietnam

NGUYEN CONG TRI

Four other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: The ao dai and its undeserved association with Suzie Wong

Myanmar MAY MYAT WASO

Four other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: The origin of the rincau wavy leaf motif in Buddhist temple decoration.

Indonesia

BIYAN WANAATMADJA, SEBASTIAN GUNAWAN, GHEA PANGGABEAN

Two other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: A thousand isles, a thousand weaves

Asia Fashion Today

Singapore FREDERICK LEE

Four other designers TBA

Malaysia FARAH KHAN, BARNARD CHANDRAN, Three other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: The baju kurung, baju kebaya, and songkok Malay men’s cap

Thailand SHONE PUIPIA

Four other designers TBA

Douglas Bullis

India AMIT AGGARWAL, TARUN TAHILIANI, THAKOR & ABRAHAM, MANISH MALHOTRA

One other designer TBA

SIDEBAR: The traditional saree, lehenga, dhoti, and shalwar khameez

SIDEBAR: The Indian approach to incorporating recycled plastic into its tradition of heavily beaded garments.

Sri Lanka PARAS & SHALINI, AMILANI PERERA

Three other designers TBA

Mongolia OCHIRJANTSAN BOLD, SOR GANBOD BALTIS & ATLANGADIS BAYARSAIKHAN, YANJINDULAM & NYAMKHAND CHOIGAALAA

Two other designers TBA

SIDEBAR: The traditional torgo men’s cloak with deel wide sash.

Muslim Modest Wear – A survey of diverse styles with a common theme regarding hair covering, sleeve-coverage, and hemline length.

SHARIAF MEHERAN BARABHAR, ITANG YUNAZ, DIAN PELANGI,

VIVY

YUSOFF

One other designer TBA

Afterword – The fashion industry’s efforts to combat environmental degradation beginning at the level of textile creation and innovating new methods of minimizing textile waste via computer-calculated laser cutting.

Bibliography

Index

Five examples of Asian fashion zeitgeist

The five YouTubes below demonstrate two things: (a) How various nations transform the Western catwalk parade into their own cultural identity statement, and (b) the size of the audiences that attend Asian fashion shows — these are the bookstore buyers who will put this book on their coffee tables.

[Some of these YouTubes are quite long and slow by Western standards; scan freely as you wish.]

(a) Heaven Gaia, China Fashion Week 2021 (couture) [Go to 50:05 for the final parade showcasing all the garments followed by the designer’s walk-through.]

(b) Seoul Fashion Week 2023 (a show inspired by Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss).

(c) The Philippine Terno Gala (panuela butterfly sleeves are unique to Filipina couture).

(d) Bangkok Fashion Week 2023 (how Asia’s youth culture transforms the traditional catwalk show into a celebration of their rejection of formality). 3

(e) Amit Aggarwal Designer Showcase (couture made from recycled plastic waste decorated with traditional hand-sewn beadwork to achieve garment looks that cannot be made with traditional textiles).

Author credentials

Fifty West Coast Artists (Chronicle Books)

California Fashion Designers (Peregrine Smith Books)

Fashion Asia (Thames & Hudson)

100 Artists of the West Coast (Schiffer Books, USA)

100 Artists of the Southwest (Schiffer Books)

Selling to India’s Consumer Market (Quorum)

Succeed in Business, Sri Lanka (Times Books International, Singapore)

Doing Business in Today’s India (Praeger)

Succeed in Business, India (Times Books International, Singapore)

Preparing for Electronic Commerce in Asia (Praeger)

23 nonfiction titles listed on amazon.com

25 nonfiction titles listed on ISSUU.com

I have lived fourteen years in various Asian countries as a business book writer and technology journalist, hence am familiar with the intricacies of doing business there.

Delivery date

I estimate 12 to 16 months to (a) interview designers and produce the manuscript, and (b) meet with professional trade associations and fashion design academies/university departments to devise a sales and distribution strategy within the fashion industry itself. Prepublication bulk sales within each country’s professional associations will be considerably greater than post-publication bookstore sales. Sales strategies will differ from country to country due to differences in the ethos of their business cultures.

Author commitment to sales promotion

I will home-base in Singapore and travel to each of the 15 countries to interview designers, plan sales and publicity campaigns with trade associations and fashion schools, and acquire publication permissions.

Approx. 12 to 18 months later when the book is ready for shipment, I will return to Singapore for another six or more months to personally market the book to (a) bookstores, and (b) direct sales to attendees at Fashion Week events in the various countries. Fashion Weeks traditionally occur in mid-April and mid-October.

Thank you for taking the time to consider this query,

=Douglas Bullis

Douglas Bullis

Asia Fashion Today: Roots and Wings

Section B: Business Plan

Summary

Since Fashion Asia appeared twenty-four years ago, Asian garment design and marketing have made enormous strides in design sophistication, fabric technology, and countering the garment industry’s reputation as a wasteful abuser of materials and energy.

After two decades in the shadows, it is time to bring up the lights on thriving fashion industries little publicized beyond their respective borders. Consider the implications of the fact that Armani, Donna Karan, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton, and Prada are ubiquitous in malls all across Asia, yet how many Asian boutiques can you name in Paris, London, or New York?

The foregoing points to three opportunities awaiting the right publisher:

• The sheer beauty and diversity of Asian fashion wear. What do their creations look like? How are they made? What are their cultural forebears? What do the designers think about themselves, their careers, their buyers, their relationship with Western designers, and their futures? What does a country’s fashion industry contribute to the economy and zeitgeist of their communities?

• The enthusiastic local response to Western recognition of the Asians’ decades of effort. The Asian fashion world justifiably feels sidelined by the massive machinery of Western fashion’s self-regard — media extravaganzas, film star adulation, private jets ferrying famous names, million-dollar advertising campaigns. Asian cultures are too diverse for industries as individualistic as fashion design to unite as a region-spanning marketing identity. They seek validation from the Western fashion establishment. Korean or Taiwanese designers go to Paris to show their work; French designers don’t go to Seoul or Taipei.

• The best way to market this book is simple: Let the locals do it. Bookstore sales will be modest compared with the marketing energy of 44 trade organizations, over 300 individual fashion designers, and an uncountable number of socialites, celebrities, bloggers, and social media enthusiasts. Section C lists 17 pages of weblinks to hundreds of fashion industry individuals, institutions, and influencers — a resource few art books require. The massive size of the database is vital given that we are dealing with 15 different countries, languages, and business styles.

Prepublication marketing strategy

The pre-publication strategy for marketing Asia Fashion Today is to focus on large bulk sales to three distinct buying groups with large memberships:

• Trade and professional organizations; these can be surprisingly numerous; see Section C.

• University fashion departments and private academies — Hong Kong alone has 16 universities

• The designers featured in the book

Bulk sales implies a financial incentive for participating. Hence I strongly recommend that the publisher extend to trade associations, fashion schools, and individual designers a discount of between 20% and 40% as an incentive for bulk purchases. (A clause in the purchase agreement would forbid sales to the public.)

Trade associations will see Asia Fashion Today as an international validation of their years of effort. I anticipate enthusiastic participation from them in promoting and selling the book to their own associates and members. The same can be said for the 80-odd designers in the book, who will see their inclusion as international recognition of their status. Many of the copies they buy will be signed and given to favored clients.

Numbers are very chancy to predict at this stage, but I would hazard a reasonable guess that each designer could dispose of 20 to 30 books given the size of their client base. Trade association will sell far more — upward of 200 copies given their memberships. Many copies will end up as good-will gifts to business associates and politicians, but the great bulk will be sold to their members at the full cover price.

Post-publication marketing strategy

Once the book is published, I will personally visit the headquarters of bookstore chains and the larger stand-alone bookstore in major cities — India has 8 such chains, Japan has 5, Malaysia and China have 4, Singapore has 3. I will offer to organize mini-fashion shows in the mall atriums where the bookstores are located, featuring designers signing books and the presence of models in beautiful garments. Fashion shows in mall atriums are commonly done, but the shows are sponsored by clothing lines such as Prada, Billabong, Uniqlo, and the like. (See the turnout at one of these on page 40 in the accompanying mockup of the book.) Combining a book signing with a fashion show in which book buyers can mingle with beautiful models while a famed local designer signs their books would turn the staid commonplace of a book-signing into an event worthy of the TV evening news.

Strategies to maximize profit centers using the book as a logotype

This book’s subtitle “Roots and Wings” was chosen with the intent that it be designed into an instantly recognizable logotype that can be attached like a label to physical products. The publisher could then issue a license to use the logotype and brand for a fee. The “Roots and Wings” logotype would visually invest a given product line with the cachet of the local fashion industry in general and Asia Fashion Today in particular. The Asia Fashion Today

Asia Fashion Today

Douglas Bullis

logotype could give a new identity to products that already exist, but in unfocused form. For example:

• coloring books for children and adults

• doll costume makers

• home-sewing pattern makers

• color-it-yourself kits given to women sitting under hair dryers in beauty salons (an indubitable improvement on beauty-salon magazines)

None of the first three product lines have tied famous local designers’ seasonal releases to their own products. This would convert their current static product lines into ongoing sources of new revenue. My duty will be to convince producers of the prestige value conferred to their products by using the logotype banner, “Produced in association with Asia Fashion Today” and its logotype. The publisher could issue a one-time license to use the logotype.

Competing books

None. No panoramic survey of Asia’s fashion world exists. See Section D on page 28 for a detailed list of fashion-related regional books published in the last 20 years.

Follow-on books

Asia Fashion Today inspires several spin-off illustrated books:

• An identical low-cost e-book edition with hundreds of embedded web links marketed to the 100,000+ fashion students in the region. It would also be a ready-reference guide for trade professionals. This amounts to selling the same book in print and electronic form.

• The Fabulous World of Asian Fashion Accessories. According to amazon.com and BiblioVault, no such book exists. My research suggests that there are about 80 fashion accessories makers in the same geographical arc as Asia Fashion Today. The term “accessories” embraces shoes, handbags, millinery and other headwear, gloves, scarves, belts, sashes, wraps, stoles, and the vast range of jewelry-related products. If the definition of “accessory” were to be expanded to local craft weavings, it would double the size of the book, but also act as an enduring reference source. This would be a book best delegated to a specialist authority on the subject, preferably to be produced and released in conjunction with Asia Fashion Today. If the two books could appear simultaneously, it would be an unprecedented prestige coup for the publisher and Asia’s fashion world.

• How They Stage Fashion Shows. This title would showcase the extravagant theatricality of Fashion Week and television fashion shows worldwide. How are these shows created, constructed, lighted, and stage-managed. For examples, type “Fashion Week” and the name of any major international fashion center into YouTube. This is a book for a writer familiar with theatrical or television production.

• Behind the Scenes of the Catwalk Screen. Clothing dozens of models with hundreds of garments and accessories in a time slot of forty minutes is the most tightly orchestrated bedlam imaginable. Successfully capturing the dressing room’s frantic beauty is a photographer’s paradise. The text of this book could largely be contained in the photo captions, prefaced by a scene-setting intro that outlines how backstage fashion is organized with such perfect timing.

I will deliver:

• Complete text, edited and proofread by an outside professional

• Up to 400 illustrations following the publisher’s specifications

• A mockup of the entire book with text and illustrations in place which the publisher’s design department can use as a ready-reference to the book’s order of matter. I understand that I will have no more than an advisory role in the eventual design.

Author advance

The author advance must be sufficient to enable me to reside in Singapore for a 12 to 16 month manuscript production phase, and another six to eight months when the book arrives in boxes. Both phases will require me to travel to the various Asian capitals for sales meetings with trade associations and designer interviews. I have lived in Asia for fourteen years and am familiar with costs and transport issues.

Author’s suggested alternative to the traditional royalty system

Given the time and costs of travel to various countries, I offer the publisher an alternative funding mechanism from the traditional advance paid in multiple tranches:

I will be heavily invested in marketing this book — effectively the publisher’s sales representative in addition to being the author. In the pre-publication phase I suggest that I be considered not simply as the author, but an independent contractor acting as the publisher’s representative tasked to pre-sell as many of the books as possible. The “advance” from the publisher would be a monthly stipend paid into a Singaporean bank account sufficient for my living expenses in Singapore (where I have lived before). The stipend must also finance the travel and hotel expenses to the other Asian fashion capitals to interview designers and negotiate bulk sales of the work to fashion-related organizations. The latter are variable costs

given a travel and lodging schedule that cannot be predicted.

In the post-publication phase, my responsibilities will also include selling copies of the work directly to attendees at Fashion Week shows, and working with local bookstores to stage fashion-show/book-signings on their premises or mall atriums.

If requested, I would submit a monthly report of my activities to the publisher’s editor assigned to oversee this project.

I also understand that no stipend would be paid during the interregnum between ms delivery and publication date.

I will consider the aggregate amount of the monthly stipends to be the advance for the book, and will transition to the traditional royalties system once the publisher earns back the advance.

Douglas Bullis

Asia Fashion Today: Roots and Wings

Section C: Marketing Database

The best way to market Asia Fashion Today is to use local professional associations, individual designers, and social influencers to promote the book. The following list hints at the depth of local platform prowess which no publisher from abroad can emulate. This proposal suggests that all 44 professional associations listed below be offered to purchase a minimum of 200 copies at the publisher’s normal trade discount, with the suggestion that they distributed those copies to local press reviewers, bloggers, journalists, and influencers such as singers, actors, models, and socialites. The individual designers featured in the book will be encouraged to purchase 30 copies at the publisher’s trade discount, with the suggestion that may either sell them at the cover price to recover their costs or give their copies to favored clients. Altogether that could add up to 12,800 pre-publication sales commitments.

Resource list

Directory of Fashion Weeks held throughout Asia

Asian Couture Federation

Apparel Impact Institute

Tatler Ball at The Londoner in Macao

Japan

Nagoya Fashion Contest

Osaka Fashion Week

Tokyo Fashion Week (see also this page)

Rakuten Girls Award

Japan Fashion Association

FashionABC

Vogue Business: Young Japanese are craving fast fashion. What happened?

Sidebar: The story of Bunka Fashion College, which started as a home-sewing school in 1919. It is still operating and has played an outsize role in nurturing the fashion sensibility of Japan today, notably Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo.

Asia Fashion Today

Marketing Database

Douglas Bullis

Sidebar: The kimono reinvention movement of Jōtarō Saitō, Yumi Katsura, and Hiroko Takahashi.

Japan has 30 state-accredited schools of fashion design. (List begins at bottom of page.)

Candidate designers:

• Jun Takahashi (see his wide-ranging blog here)

• Tamae Hirokawa, Somarta (further info here) (Fashion Studio Ivw here)

• Yumi Katsura (click on “Collections;” see also her YouTubes & Fashion Studio Ivw)

• Junya Watanabe (see Vogue Runway’s multiple images here)

• Euchronia, Momoka Sat & Fu Miyazaki (reinventing convent lacework a fashion, totally unique concept from hitherto unknown brand) Contact via https://www.notjustalabel.com/euchronia.

• Hiroyuki Horihata and Makiko Sekiguchi of Matohu (inspired by Japanese aesthetics)

• Toshikazu Iwaya of Iwaya33

• Chitose Abe of sacai.

• Koji Udo of Factotum

• Yasuhiro Mihara of Miharayasuhiro

• Takeshi Osumi of Phenomenon

• Yosuke Aizawa of White Mountaineering

• Kansai Yamamoto

• Keita Maruyama

• Aya Ueto

• Sara Arai (see more images here)

• Tae Ashida (see slide show here)

• Satoshi Kondo (Fashion Network article here)

• Tao Kurihara

• Fumito Ganryu

• Yoshiyuki Konishi

• Eri Matsui

• Matohu

• Akira Naka

• Tayuka Nakanishi (see beach wear designs here)

• Nigo (streetwear designs here)

• Jotaro Saito (reinvented kimonos, see design collection here)

• Junya Tashiro (see also this Tokyo Art Beat article) 11

• Noritaka Tatehana (see also this article

Influencers:

Bunka Fashion College

Akiko Fukai, Director of the Kyoto Costume Institute

Yagi Tsusho Limited, a global marketing and merchandising company specializing in fashion

Jason Lee Coates, Fashion Director, H30 Fashion Bureau

Hirohito Suzuki, Marketing & Business Director, H30 Fashion Bureau

Johann Manas, Designer, JMAN Tokyo

Giselle Go, Co-Founder, DAMDAM, Tokyo

Misha Janette, American-born fashion journalist, fashion director and fashion blogger, based in Tokyo. Website: Tokyo Fashion Diaries

Kosuke Tsumura, former designer for Issey Miyake, now associated with the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art

Aya Ueto, singer, actress, TV personality

Yoshiki Hayashi, musician, song writer, record producer

Rei Shito: Japanese Fashion Photographer

Fumi Kawaguchi: Stylist at Nth Magazine, a Japanese magazine published for Singaporean and Souheast Asian readers.

Randolph Tan, Fashion Stylist for Runway Addict

Hiroshi Narumi, associate professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design ("Japanese Street Style”)

Dr. Yuniya Kawamura, associate professor of Sociology at FIT ("Japanese Fashion Subcultures").

Taiwan

Chinese Fashion Association (see 2024 award invitation here)

Taipei Fashion Week

Taipei Fashion Week; 2021 collections, October 2023 collections

Taipei FW 2022 report by Zeitblatt Magazine DE; see also this image page

Taiwan Textile Fedeation

Taipei Design Research Institute

2019 Golden Pin Design Award

Taiwan has five state-accredited schools of fashion design, plus another five schools, three with international affiliations.

Asia Fashion Today

Candidate designers:

• Sophie Hong (more images here)

• Malan Breton (more images here)

• Wang Chen Tsai-Hsia (Shiatzy Chen) (more images here)

• Jamei Chen (see also here)

• BOB Jian

• Claudia Wang (see also here)

• Story Wear

• Shawnyi-Two aka TUNGSUNGCHIEN

• Wei Hung Chen

• Le Jian

• Huija Chen

• Wang Jiankai

• Jessica Chang (see also 2021 Redress Design Award)

• Pei-Wen Jen (see also here)

• Stephane Dou & Changlee Yugin; see also their exotic showroom

Influencers:

Jolin Tsai singer, songwriter, actress, “Queen of C-Pop”

Vanness Wu, actor, singer

Dizzy Dizzo, rapper

Tong Yang-Tze, artist & calligrapher

China

China Fashion Association

Shanghai Fashion Week (see also this page)

Showroom Shanghai Brands list of fashion-related brands, hundreds of links

Vogue China

Redress Design Award

China Fashion: Conversations With Designers (Berg publishers UK 2010)

McKinsey Business of Fashion article 17 October 2023, Caution Prevails at Shanghai Fashion Week

McKinsey Business of Fashion article 29 November 2023, The State of Fashion 2024: Riding Out the Storm

China has 154 state-accredited schools of fashion design

Candidate designers:

• Guo Pei (Paris 2017) (Himalaya collection) (Fashion Studio IVW)

• Heaven Gaia (YouTube here)

• Xiong Ying (YouTube here)

• Lucia Lu

• Movana Chen

• Chris Chang (born in Taiwan)

• Ming Ma (more images here)

• Ma Ke (more images here)

• Lü Yan (more images here)

• Taoray Wang (more images here and here)

• Ximon Lee (more images here)

• Zhang Na (recycles fast-fashion waste)

• Zhang Yan

• Lan Yu [Warning: website https://www.lanyu.com/ corrupted] (see images here)

• Huishan Zhang (more images here)

• Christopher Bu (see influencer Fan Bingbing’s atelier) (more images here)

• Uma Wang (click on the collection names to view the designs)

• SuuYuuWang

• Lowe Tong, Redress Design Award 2020 (more images here)

Influencers:

Pauline Su, China Fashion Week

Lucia Liu, former Director of Harper’s Bazaar China

Hung Huang, TV host and fashion writer

Fan Bingbing and Zhang Ziyi, actresses

Liu Wen, supermodel

Christine Tsui, author and professor at Shanghai Institute of China Academy of Arts

Yuli Bei, Associate Professor at the College of Arts at Beijing Union University

Zang Yingchun, Tsinghua University Academy of Arts and Design professor

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC),

Hong Kong Fashion Week

Hong Kong Institute of Fashion Design

Hong Kong Fashion Designers Association

Fashion Hong Kong

Textile Council of Hong Kong

Fashion InStyle E-Plus

The HKTDC Centrestage Survey 2023 — A detail-rich comprehensive survey of the present state of and future outlook for the garment trade in Hong Kong. Summary:

• Domestic exports: HK$300 mn

• Re-exports: HK$25,129 mn

• Total exports: HK$25,429 mn

• Total exports growth: 40%

Sidebar: Hong Kong region schools of taxtile technology and fashion design:

• Chinese University of Hong Kong

• Hong Kong Polytechnic University

• City University of Hong Kong

• Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

• University of Hong Kong

• Open University of Hong Kong

• Hong Kong Shue Yan University

• Lingnan University

• Shenzhen University

• University of Macau

• Dongguan University of Technology

• Guangdong University of Technology

• Guangzhou University

• Jinan University

• South China Normal University

• South China University of Technology

Sidebar: The Sustainable Fashion Movement in Hong Kong:

• Fashion Summit HK 2023 Conference,

• Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium,

• Clothing Industry Training Authority,

• Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel,

• Sustainable Fashion Business Consortium,

• REDRESS G2G & Circular Design Hong Kong,

• Mills Fabrica.

Douglas

Marketing Database

Candidate designers:

• William Tang Tat-chi (more images here)

• Barney Cheng (Fashion Studio Ivw here)

• William Cheung

• Bonita Cheung (more images here)

• Walter Ma

• Lu Lu Cheung (more images here)

• Ika Butoni (more images here)

• Ruby Li

• Grace Choi

• Tommy Tsoi

• Polly Ho

• Henry Lau

• Mountain Yam

• Doris Kath Chan

• Pacino Wan

• Benny Yeung

• Stephen Fung

• Tina Leung

• Karen Chan (more images here)

Influencers

Peter Lam, chairman, Hong Kong Trade Development Council

Kevin Yeung, chairman of Hong Kong Fashion Designers Association

Charlene Choi, film actress, vocalist with the Cantopop group Twins

William Chan, singer, dancer, actor

Kevin Poon, art collector, artist, art & fashion entrepreneur

Florence Tse, Adjunct Associate Professor, City University of Hong Kong

China Daily article “Fashionistas from Afar” 14 Nov 2023

South Korea

Seoul Fashion Week (videos here)

Miss Supertalent Seoul Fashion Week

ELLE: Celebrating A New Wave Of Korean Fashion Designers, 11 Nov 2022

HALLYU! The Korean Wave, Victoria & Albert Museum, Sept 2022–June 2023

Vogue Business, The rising Korea fashion stars making a global imprint, 4 Jan 2023 16

Asia Fashion Today

Korea has five state-accredited schools of fashion design and three private or foreign-affiliated academies.

Candidate designers:

• Lie Sangbong (see Seoul 2023 show here)

• Minju Kim, see collections here

• Rejina Pyo (more images here)

• Dohun Kim (Andersson Bell)

• Lea Seong (more images here)

• Woo Young-mi (more images here)

• Terence & Kevin Kim, IISE (more images here)

• Lee Youngae

Influencers:

Jieon Lee of Happly

Lee Young-Ae, actress

Lee Sung-Kyung, actress

Philippines

Fashion and Design Council of the Philippines

SoFA Design Institute

Philippine Fashion Week

Philippines has three state-accredited schools of fashion design.

PHx Fashion Group, Esme Palaganas, Trickie Lopa and Joseph Bagasao III.

Candidate designers:

• Philip Rodriguez (more images here)

• Cary Santiago (more images here)

• Rajo Laurel (more images here)

• Mark Bumgarner (click on “Formal/Evening” link to review collections)

• Michael Leyva

• Puey Quiñones

• Jun Escario

• Inno Soto

• Leo Almodal (more images here)

• Ezra Santos (YouTubes)

• Mich Dulce (see more images here)

Douglas Bullis

• Ben Farrales

• Sassa Jimenez

• Rosenthal Tee

• Kermit Tesoro

• Jojie Lloren

• Mak Tumang

• Cesar Gaupo

• Rosenthal Tee

• Andrea Tetangco

• Jaggy Clarino

• Rian Fernandez

• Jian Lasala

• Sidney Eculla

• Arwin Meriales

• Benj Leguiab

• Kennedy Gaspar

• Joel Escobar

• Jill Lao

• Feanne

• Andrea Ang

• BAGASAO

• Neil Felipp

• Yanna Lopez

• Joyce Makitalo

• Kelvin Morales

• Andre Chang

Influencers:

Pam Quiñones, Fashion Director of Vogue Philippines

TFC Press

CJ Cruz of Carl Jan Cruz

Dante Dizon and Noli Coronado of 13 Lucky Monkey

Dan Matutina, Philippine graphic design and branding systems

Project Runway Philippines (reality TV series)

Stylemonger blog

Nylon Manila

Esquire Philippines

Mega Magazine

Philippine Star (philstar global)

Asia Fashion Today

Douglas Bullis

preen.ph

Adobo Magazine

Vietnam

Vietnam Fashion Design Institute (FADIN)

Vietnam International Fashion Week, 2022 Fall/Winter day 1, 2022 F/W day 2, see also here

Vietnam International Fashion Tour

Vietnam has three state-accredited schools of fashion design.

Note: The term Nhat Binh means “having been inspired or derived from the traditional ao dai”.

Candidate designers:

• Nguyễn Công Trí (See also this article)

• Yaly Couture (YouTube here)

• Giao lộ Thời Trang & Kiến Trúc

• Tran Phương My

• Vu Thao

• Linda Mai Phung (YouTube)

• Thuy Nguyen

• Claret Giang Le

• Devon Nguyễn

• Lam Gia Khang

• Pham Thi Hue Anh

• Ngo Minh Anh

• Chung Thanh Phong (YouTube)

• Truong Ngoc Cat Tuong

• Le Thi Hong Nhoc

• Nguyen Viet Anh (video of her Indian Diwali-themed design series)

• Đặng Thị Minh Hạnh (YouTube 1, YouTube 2)

Myanmar

Myanmar International Fashion Week 2019, 2018

Myanmar International Fashion Week 2020

Myanmar collection Indonesia Fashion Week 2017

Myanmar Textile & Industry Guide

https://worldfashionexhibition.com/myanmar

Candidate Designers

• May Myat Waso (YouTube here, MIFW 2019 YouTube, See also 1, 2, 3, )

• Hay Man Oo Fashion School (see also 1, 2, )

• Kit Minh (see also 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, )

• Mog Pauk Pauk (see also 1, 2, 3, 4, )

• Pho Akari Shein (see also 1, 2, 3, )

• Lwinn Myat Noe (see also 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, )

• Mya Pwint Phyu (see also 1, 2, 3, )

• Phyo Pyae (see also 1, 2, 3, 4, )

• Shartra (se also 1, 2, 3, 4, )

• Mya Pwint Phyu

• Phwe & Thet (see also 1, 2, 3, 4, )

• Myat Noe

Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the largest producers of textile producers in the world. It is also one of the world’s major exporters of textile. The fashion industry is a major contributor to the economy of Indonesia at 18.01 percent.

Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW)

Indonesia Fashion Week (see also this page)

Bali Fashion Week

Indonesia Now to present fashion collections at NYFW S/S 2023 Jakarta Post

Sidebar: The legacy of Iwan Tirta, batik innovator

Sidebar: House of Prajudi, batik innovator

Sidebar: Galeri Kain Pantang Sintang, designs unique to the Dayak culture of Kalimantan

Sidebar: Threads of Life, textiles hand woven by over 1000 women on twelve Indonesian islands.

Indonesia has six state-accredited schools of fashion design.

Candidate designers:

Alphabetical list of designer collections in Indonesia Fashion Week 2022

• Biyan Wanaatmadja

• Sebastian Gunawan

• Ghea Panggabean, more designs here

• Auguste Soesastro more designs here.

• Musa Widyatmojo (more images here)

• Lulu Lutfi Labibi (see images here)

• Peggy Hartanto

• Didit Hediprasetyo

• House of Iwan Tirta

• Fanti Wahyu Nurvita (specializes in Borneo designers)

• Yayasan Tafean Pah, Timorese hand weaving revivalist

• Obin (Josephine Komara, batik & textile designer)

• Susanna Perini

• Tex Saverio

• Edward Hutabarat

• Purana

• Hian Tjen (bridal wear)

• Danjyo Hiyoji

• Didiet Maulana

• Bai Soemarlono and Joe Lim

• Inka & Modhy, Tale of Two

• Chitra Subyakto

• Avanava

• Musa Widyatmojo (more images here)

• Debora Mettu

• Susanna Perini, Biasa label

• Didi Budjiardjo

• Carmanita (more images here)

• Ronald Gaghana (more images here)

Influencers:

Poppy Dharsano, founder of Indonesia Fashion Week

Amna W. Kusumo, Kelola Jakarta

Svida Alisjahbana, CEO of the Femina Group

Sharrona Valezka , Jakarta-based fashion media practitioner

Dewi Magazine

Maya A. Siregar, Online Editor, Prestige Indonesia

Vicky Shu, singer and shoe designer

Indonesia's Next Top Model (reality TV show featuring aspiring models)

Venue often chosen for fashion shows: Senayan City, South Jakarta

Kunto Aji, pop singer

Singapore

Singapore Fashion Council, Wilson Teo, President

Design Orchard Retail Showcase ground floor

OneOrchard Store, E-commerce platform

Business of Fashion Group, global intelligence in the worldwide fashion industry

Fashion Sustainability Programme, Singapore Fashion Council

Zero Fashion Waste Initiative, Singapore Fashion Council

Audi Fashion Festival Singapore

Asia Fashion Exchange

National Arts Council

SG Fashion Now: Architectural Drape

LaSalle College of the Arts /University of the Arts Singapore, Fashion

Circe Henestrosa, Head, School of Fashion (Video)

Offers BA in Fashion Media and Industries

Ang Xinwei, Head, School of Spatial & Product Design

Singapore-based brands Love, Bonito, Yeomama Batik, and Supertone.

Singapore has six state-accredited schools of fashion design.

Candidate designers:

• Frederick Lee

• Goh Lai Chan, Laichan

• Hayden Ng

• Priscila Tsu-jyen Shunmugam

• Yoyo Cao

• Esther Tay

• Bryan Yeo

• Harry Halim

• Jon Max Goh

• Kage Chong & Keng How of Biro

• Latika Balachander of LABAL

• Lina Osman of LINAOTH

• Max Tan

• Thomas Wee

• Elizabeth Soon & Keita Ebinhara, Ametsubi

• Lisa Von Tang

Influencers:

Fadli Rahman, fashion photograher

Douglas

LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore

Venue: Tang’s on Orchard Road

James Bent from La Mode Outre and his wife Stacey Young from StyleSophomore

Raffles City Shopping Centre Multi Brands

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week, see also Wiki

Asia Islamic Fashion Week

Borneo Fashion Week

MODA, Malaysian Official Designers Association

https://www.mbdamalaysia.com/about

Sidebar: Batik: https://www.tatlerasia.com/style/fashion/kapten-batik-styling-tips

Sidebar: Hatta Dolmat batiks from recycled beach plastic

Sidebar: Malaysian Street Fashion

Malaysia has 18 state-accredited schools of fashion design.

Candidate designers:

• Farah Khan (read Luminnej story here)

• Bernard Chandran

• Melinda Looi (read Tatler story here; more images here)

• Richard Rivalee (more images here)

• Edmund Ser (more images here; specializes in corporate wear))

• Alia Bastaman

• Hatta Dolmat (sidebar: Batiks from recycled beach plastic)

• Hafizi Woo & Izree Kai Haffiz, dba Fiziwoo

• Anaabu

• Behati

• Bill Keith (more images here)

• Leung Thong Ping

• Carven Ong, wedding couture gallery

Influencers:

Andrew Tan, founder of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Show

Jeann Liew, Luminnej illustrated blog

Scha Al-Yahya, actress

Marion Caunter, fashion chameleon, Marno Ro Capital, Hairplay Salon

Amber Chia and Tinie, Malaysia supermodels

Ayda Jebat, actress and singer

Douglas

Kumela Kumslut, drag queen

Joe Flizzow, rapper

https://www.lofficielmalaysia.com/fashion/4-local-designers-reinterpret-thetraditional-apparel-into-a-next-level

https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/style/2023/04/06/malaysian-designerscelebrate-30-years-of-colourful-local-fashion

Thailand

Thailand Fashion Week

Bangkok Fashion Week (recommended for those who think fashion shows are stodgy)

Elle Bangkok Fashion

Lifestyle Asia: 6 Thai fashion designers worth following on Instagram Thailand has 24 state-accredited schools of fashion design.

Candidate designers:

• Nagara (see designer’s website here)

• Srivannavari Nariratana

• Shone Puipia

• Busardi Muntarbhorn

• Tuck Muntarbhorn

• Polpat Asavaprapha

• Pimdao Sukhahuta

• Phrapaat Somboonsitti and Ekkapoom Treechairusmee

• Sahasab Pinprachasan

• Polpot Asavaprapa (Asava) (Fashion Studio Ivw)

• Roj Singhakul

• Vatit Virashpanth (w/ following designer under Vatit Itthi label)

• Itthi Metanee

Influencers

IconSiam — the Thai capital’s premier high-end fashion show venue Poppery Video Fashion Blog

Krissanapoom “Jaylerr” Pibulsonggram, actor and singer

Kanrapee Chokpaiboon, fashion photographer

Montis Songsombat, fashion photographer

Sri Lanka

Colombo Fashion Week, see also Wiki Sri Lanka has three state-accredited schools of fashion design.

Candidate designers:

• Paras & Shalini

• Hirushi Jayathilake (YouTube interview)

• Amilani Perera

• La Pard (batik)

• Rizwan Beyg

• Karma (Tuwani Wijesundera & Nilmi Guruge)

• Lovi

• Asanga

• Aslam Hussein

• Ayesh Wickramarathne

• Charini Suriyage

• Himashi Wijeweera

• Nilusha Maddumage

• Meraki

• Dimuthu Sahabandu

• Sonali Dharmawardena

• Jaish Aashkii

• Ranmini Eliyapura

• Ashcharya Peiris

• Ruchira Silva

• Anuradha Yahampath

• Sonali Dharmawardena

India

The Indian fashion scene divides into three sectors. India Fashion Week occurs in Delhi; the Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai serves the Central sector; Bangalore Fashion Week covers the south.

India Runway Week on Wiki. Website here.

Hi Life Fashion Exhibitions (see esp. the References section)

Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI)

Indian Federation for Fashion Development (IFFD)

Douglas

India has 42 accredited schools of fashion design.

Candidate designers:

• Manish Malhotra Mijwan (YouTube 2022 show here)

• Abu Jani & Sandeep Khosla

• Amit Aggarwal

• Tarun Tahiliani

• Thakore & Abraham

• Ruchika Sachdeva

• Rahul Mishra

• Rajash Pratap Singh

• Aneeth Arora

• Pankaj & Nidhi

• Manish Aurora

• Sneha Arora

• Ragavendra Rothore

• Sanjay Garg

• Payel Khandwela

• Gaurath Gupta (Beyoncé Renaissance World tour) (New York Times feature)

Influencers:

The nexus between Bollywood stars and individual fashion designers is longestablished a very public. For example, Bollywood actors Rashi Singh, Subhashree Rayguru, Sonu Thakur attended the launch of Hyderabad’s Hi-Life Exhibition of 350 designers in April 2023. Actresses Geethika, Varsha, and Kushitha Kallapu opened the launch of a Hi Life Exhibition on 26 June, 2023. Read the “Events” section of this website as a tasting menu.

Mongolia

Ulanbataar Fashion Week

Mongolian Professional Designers Union (MPDU)

Urlakh Erdem Fashion Design Institute (which hosts its own Fashion Week)

Article: You Need to Know About Mongolia’s Fashion Scene

Mongolia has four accredited schools of fashion design.

Douglas

Designers

Ochirjantsan Bold (Torgo label) (more images here) (Fashion Studio Ivw here)

Sor Ganbold Baltis and Altangadas Bayarsaikhan (White Comma brand)

Yanjindulam and Nyamkhand Choigaalaa (Michel & Amazonka)

Goyo

Mandkhai

Khulan Nemekhbayar

Gamuda

Influencers

Mongolia’s Next Top Model TV show

Arig Bank (uses sales of eco-friendly bags to support the welfare of vulnerable Mongolian children)

Muslim Modest Wear

Modestyle.asia

Fashion Valet, Vivy Yusoff

Candidate designers:

• Sharifah Meheran Barakbah, Malaysia (more images here)

• Itang Yunaz, Indonesia

• Dian Pelangi, Indonesia

• Adlina Anis, Singapore

• Vivy Yusoff, Malaysia

• Tasmiah, China

• Zalora e-commerce website by Zalia

Influencers:

Still to be developed

Asia Fashion Today: Roots and Wings

Section D: Fashion-Related books

publication dates presented from most recent to older

General non nation-specific titles:

Modern Fashion Traditions: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity through Fashion by M. Angela Jansen, Jennifer Craik, and Joanne B. Eicher. Bloomsbury Academic 25 Jan 2018, reprint, 256 pages. Modern Fashion Traditions addresses the dynamics of fashion systems outside the West. Too often, these fashion systems are studied in the context of globalization and Western fashion influences. This book draws on a wide range of non-Western case studies and analyses their similarities and differences as legitimate fashion systems, in terms of nonEurocentric tradition, continuity versus change, and “the West versus the Rest”.

Biyan by Biyan Wanaatmadja (Author), Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni (Author), Marc Ascoli (Editor), Rizzoli 10 Feb 2015, hardbound 256 pages. Indonesia’s most celebrated fashion designer, Biyan Wanaatmadja, learned his craft in Germany at M. Müller & Sohn and in England at the London College of Fashion before returning to Indonesia to launch his acclaimed label BIYAN. Combining classic and sophisticated tailoring with a profound appreciation for the handcrafting traditions of his home country such as batik, weaving, and embroidery, Biyan creates a feminine, fairy-tale–like look that is at once romantic, captivating, and modern. Refined and enchanting, this book serves as a gorgeous introduction to the singular oeuvre of the lauded designer and will be a must-have for fashion lovers.

Electric Fashion by Christine Suppes (Author), Frederic Aranda (Photographer), Ken Downing (Foreword). Skira May 26, 2015, hardcover 288 pages. Presents the couture collection of Frederic Aranda; a comprehensive vision of fashion from historical, cultural and practical standpoints. Three decades of fashion were brought together in one collection, worn as originally intended by the collector herself, and developed over five years by fashion and portrait photographer Frederic Aranda.

The Beautiful Generation: Asian Americans and the Cultural Economy of Fashion by Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu (Author). Duke University Books, 21 Dec 2010, 272 pages. The Beautiful Generation explores the role of Asian American designers in New York’s fashion industry, paying particular attention to how they relate to the garment workers who produce their goods and to Asianness as a fashionable commodity. She draws on conversations with design students, fashion curators, and fashion publicists; interviews with nearly thirty Asian American designers who have their own labels; and time spent with those designers in their shops and studios, on their factory visits, and at their fashion shows.

Fashion-related Books

Young Asian Fashion Designers by Dora Chan. Daab Publications, 1 January 2008, 376 pages. This book showcased 50 young designers with images of their designs and a short description of their stylistic contribution to the growing sense of national fashion sensibility. The post Fashion Asia (2000) era saw Asian design centers compete to become regarded as the premier fashion capital in their region. In the less-regulated countries such as China, India and, Thailand the markets faced competition from a flood of knock-off imitations of famous designers, solidifying Asia’s reputation as the knock-off capital of the world. The earlier avant garde from Japan faced rising labour costs and shop rents; some of them simply decamped to Paris or New York. Spurred by urbanization and the consumer revolution, young Asian designers responded with new, progressive, and daring styles whose uneven quality led to an emphasis on fabrication excellence being as required as design flair in the eyes of consumers.

Re-Orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress (Dress, Body, Culture) by Sandra Niessen, Ann Marie Leshkowich, Carla Jones, and Joanne B. Eicher. Hardcover –Bloomsbury, Berg Publishers April 1, 2003, 296 pages.

This is an ethnographic study that analyses Asian traditional styles, not modern creators. The globalization of Asian style is understood as facet of Orientalism. This work targets dress and fashion theorists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, art historians and those interested in globalization and Orientalism

Japan Fashion

Wiki: Japanese street fashion

Japanese Fashion Designers: The Work and Influence of Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo by Bonnie English | Aug 17, 2018 Bloomsbury Visual Arts; Reissue edition (January 10, 2019), 204 pages. Over the past 40 years, Japanese designers have led the way in aligning fashion with art and ideology, as well as addressing identity and social politics through dress. The inspiration of Miyake, Yamamoto, and Kawakubo have gained worldwide respect and admiration and have influenced a generation of designers and artists alike.

Tokyo Street Style by Yoko Yagi and Tohru Yuasa. Abrams Image, 3 Apr 2018, 240 pages. Tokyo Street Style explores influential trends from kawai cute to gender-bender looks. Moving from a glimpse of the outrageous fashion found on the streets of Harajuku to everyday-chic work and weekend attire, this comprehensive guide offers a lively overview of an in-your-face street culture as an inversion of the upper-class fashion industry.

Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons: Art of the In-Between by Andrew Bolton. Metropolitan Museum of Art (May 30, 2017), 246 pages. A revelatory look at the influential and enigmatic designer behind Comme des Garçons. The great pantheon of fashion designers produces only 29

Fashion-related Books

Asia Fashion Today Douglas Bullis

a handful of creators who are masters of their métier. Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons is one of them. Her Paris debut in 1981 defined and transformed the aesthetics of our time.

Undercover by Jun Takahashi, Foreword by Suzy Menkes. Rizzoli 12 June 2016, 256 pages. Jun Takahashi of UNDERCOVER is an icon of Harajuku streetwear and Japanese deconstruction. A fixture of the Paris collections for more than ten years plus seventeen uninterrupted seasons in Tokyo prior to that, Takahashi’s life’s work reveals a path from selfconscious artifice to rebel pastiche to an elegance all his own.

Japanese Street Style by Pat Lyttle. A&C Black, 10 Apr 2012, 120 pages. This was the first book to showcase home-grown fashions from Tokyo, whose fashion scene is an exciting blend of traditional dress and in-your-face modernity. The book features stunning one-of-akind photographs of all the major fashion tribes, from Gothic Lolita and Harajuku to Dolly Kei, Ganguro, and Kigurumi, to the popularity of the furry tail (which somehow managed to survive Playboy).

Japan Fashion Now by Valerie Steele, Patricia Mears, Yuniya Kawamura, and Hiroshi Narumi. Yale Univ. Press, 7 Dec 2010, 265 pages. Japan Fashion Now reveals how the world of fashion has been transformed by contemporary Japanese visual culture. Today, Japanese pop culture has swept the world, as young people everywhere read manga, watch anime, and play video games.

Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion by Akiko Fukai, Barbara Vinken, Susannah Frankel, Hirofumi Kurino, and Rie Nie. Merrell Publishers, 5 Oct 2010, 256 pages. The designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo made an enormous impact on the world fashion scene in the late twentieth century. Future Beauty was the first comprehensive survey of Japanese avant-garde fashion of the last 30 years. At that time a new generation of radical designers such as Tao Kurihara and Jun Takahashi was gaining acclaim. Illustrated with over 250 photographs and sketches.

The Japanese Revolution in Paris Fashion by Yuniya Kawamura and Joanne B. Eicher. Berg Publishers 1 May 2004, 208 pages. This is the first in-depth study of the Japanese revolution in Paris fashion. Paris is renowned as the greatest fashion capital in the world, but its silo categories of haute couture, demi-couture, and prêt-à-porter reflect a highly structured Francocentric system that non-western designers have difficulty accepting. A number of the Japanese designers did wriggle into the silos to make an impact. How does the Parisian silo system facilitate or inhibit new forms of creativity? The authors show how traditional French fashion has been inspired by designers like Kenzo Takada, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, Rei Kawakubo, and Hanae Mori. The authors question whether the fashion industry has become too preoccupied with self-image to the neglect of the clothing itself?

Asia Fashion Today Douglas Bullis

Taiwan Fashion

Fashion-related Books

No book about individual or collective Taiwan designers exists. There are at least five designers who regularly present seasonal collections at the annual Taipei Fashion Week, but no publication has summarized their thinking and aesthetic.

Mainland China Fashion

Wiki: Chinese clothing

Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy by Jill D'Alessandro, Anna Grasskamp, Sally Yu Leung, and Juanjuan Wu. Yale University Press; Bilingual edition (May 31, 2022). Guo Pei has astonished fashion audiences from Beijing to Paris for over 20 years. She made headlines in the U.S. as the designer of Rihanna’s trailing yellow gown at the 2015 Met Gala. Known for dazzling designs which make the implausible possible, this sumptuous volume showcases the designer’s consummate craftsmanship, lavish embroidery, and unconventional dressmaking techniques.

Fashioning China: Precarious Creativity and Women Designers in Shanzhai Culture by Sara Liao. Pluto Press; 1st edition (February 20, 2020). 'Shanzhai' is a Cantonese slang word that refers to the production of fake goods in China that cross into the global market. Starting with mobile phones, now fashion brands are subverted in this way. Fashioning China rethinks what it means to be creative in today's globalized China.

Guo Pei: Couture Beyond by Howl Collective (Photographer), Lynn Yaeger (Introduction), Paula Wallace (Foreword). Rizzoli 2018. Guo Pei produces ornate embroidery and intricate designs that derive from the ancient Chinese traditions and symbols. This is the first major book to frame her as China’s leading couture visionary. Superb close-up images reveal the intricate craftsmanship and detail of her creations.

A Century of Chinese Fashion: 1900-2000, paperback by Ze Yuan and Yue Hu. China Books

1 June 2017, 346 pages. This history traces the transformation of fashion in China during the Twentieth Century; changes that moved rapidly and in step with China’s equally tumultuous recent history. From the twilight of the dynastic era to increasing Western influences; through international and domestic conflict and the emergence of a new China after nearly a century of war, the history of garments, adornments, traditional social customs, and popular culture, have influenced clothing, textile design, and the course of history for hundreds of millions of people. The decade-by-decade appraisal of Chinese fashion is a must-have book for those interested in popular culture and the history of fashion.

Fashion China Paperback by Gemma A. Williams. Thames & Hudson, April 14, 2015, 256 pages, 280 illustrations. This first-of-its-kind book captured Chinese fashion’s mindset shift as it moved away from its reputation as a manufacturing base to its present identity of a

Fashion-related Books

global center of original design. Chinese fashion today reveals how opulent couture and street chic are ultimately inspired equally by fine art and street culture.

Fashion in 21st Century China: Design, Education, and Business (Springer Series in Fashion Business) by Yuli Bai and Yingchun Zang. Springer, 25 October 2015, 333 pages. This three-part monograph explores the dynamic landscape of fashion in China since the beginning of the 21st century through the changes in China’s fashion dynamics as driven by the shifts in the mindset of Chinese consumers. This work addresses how today’s Chinese consumers relate to foreign brands, the meaning of apparel brands as cultural signs, contemporary young consumers, the attraction of Western fashion designers, and how brand identity is understood by Chinese consumers.

China Fashion: Conversations with Designers by Christine Tsui, Berg Publishers; Illustrated edition, February 15, 2010, 256 pages. This historical survey documents the rise (and rise) of fashion design in China. Told through the stories of three generations of designers: (a) those born in the 20s and 30s who were active before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949; (b) those born in the 1950s and 60s, when fashion in China isolated itself from the rest of the world by the government’s mandate to wear Mao suits; and those born in the 1970s and later, who are now attempting to integrate China into the global fashion industry.

China Chic by Vivienne Tam. Harper April 11, 2006, 256 pages. New York Fashion designer

Vivienne Tam shares the individuality of her own cross–cultural style, combining traditional eastern elements with a modern Western edge. From the Mao jacket (which lends power dressing an unfortunate reputation) to the fussily elaborate Chinese opera houses to serene Zen gardens, China Chic is style that is pervasive and ever-evolving in today’s pop culture.

Hong Kong Fashion

Astonishingly, there is not a single book featuring any individual designer or all of them collectively. This is surprising because there are 8 to 10 top-quality designers working, selling & showing during HK Fashion Week.

South Korean Fashion

Wiki: Fashion in South Korea

No book specifically devoted to Korean Fashion Designers and their thinking and work has been produced in English or Korean.

Philippine Fashion

Wiki: Fashion and clothing in the Philippines

FASHION. Filipino. Hollywood. The World by Mrs. Janet Susan Rodriguez Nepales

Independently published 2022, this study features award-winning journalist Janet Nepales describing Filipino fashion designers Michael Cinco, Oliver Tolentino, and Furne One Amato, whose designs adorn some of the biggest Hollywood stars. This beautiful coffee table book fills more than 200 pages with color and style, and pays tribute to the Filipino fashion

designers in Hollywood who make the country proud. The work does not feature designers who remain in the Philippines, where their work has an avid local following.

Vietnam Fashion

Wiki: Vietnamese clothing

Unveiling Vietnam's Grace: Nhat Binh's Ao Dai Collection by Javier Walton. Kindle reissue of original edition released 1 July 2023. Nhat Binh's Ao Dai Collection takes readers on a journey through the rich cultural heritage of Vietnam as seen through the designs of fashion designer Nhat Binh. This beautifully illustrated book is a mesmerizing exploration of Vietnam's traditional symbol of grace and elegance in fashion.

Indonesian Fashion

Contemporary Indonesian Fashion: Through the Looking Glass by Alessandra Lopez y Royo. Bloomsbury Visual Arts, Kindle Edition, 2019, 232 pages. Indonesian fashion has undergone a remarkable period of cultural recovery over the last three decades. After centuries of colonial domination during the Dutch-dominated Batavian era, post-colonial Indonesia endured a cultural upheaval fully as tumultuous as its social and political reinvention. The country comprises many different island cultures each with their own traditions that survived the Muslim and Dutch dominated eras. The result is a garment sensibility as diverse and inventive as that of India and China. Nowhere does this invention come out as tastefully as in the literally countless batik patterns and ikat weaves. The antiquity of several styles and silhouettes extends as far into the past as the filmy silks of the ancient Solo kingdom. Taste sensibility was heavily influenced by India during the Hindudominated Srivijian Kingdom era from roughly 600 to 1100 ACE then the Islamicate era, notably in the evolution of head coverings for both men and women. Into this splendid verisimilitude, the Dutch colonial administrators imposed a kind of cultural constipation, insisting that what was right for Amsterdam should also be right for Java, Sumatra, Bali, and the rest. Today’s designers have been cheerily sweeping Western homogeneity back out to sea as they recover and update their ancestral roots. The result is an island-by-island individuality which shines forth despite the centralization of the commercial fashion industry in Jakarta. Exploring clothing in shopping malls, on the catwalk, in magazines, and online, this book examines how Indonesian fashion is made, presented, and consumed.

Singapore Fashion

No book specifically devoted to contemporary Singaporean fashion designers shows up on Amazon.

Malaysian Fashion

Jimmy Choo (Profiles in Fashion) by Kerrily Sapet. Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 1 Jan 2010, 112 pages. Jimmy Choo is exclusively a footwear designer who has shod some of the

most famous feet in the world, including Princess Diana (who jump-started the designer’s career), and Sarah Jessica Parker (who wore Choo heels in many Sex and the City episodes). Direct quotes from the designer underscore the artistry, exacting standards, and respect for the wearer, e.g., “I design like an architect” and “If a woman’s balance isn’t right, nothing is.”

Thailand Fashion

Wiki: History of Thai clothing

No book specifically devoted to contemporary Thai fashion designers shows up on Amazon.

India Fashion

Wiki: Fashion in India

India in Fashion: The Impact of Indian Dress and Textiles on the Fashionable Imagination by Hamish Bowles, Dr. Vandana Bhandari, and Suzy Menkes. Rizzoli, 21 Mar 2023, 256 pages. This is the only post-Covid book related to Asian fashion on today’s market. It does not address specific Indian designers. Its subject is the influence of Indian design styles on the Western fashion imagination. The jacket copy reads: “This intoxicating and visually rich volume — with texts by experts from India, Europe, and North America — is published to accompany a major exhibition that celebrates the long historical contributions that Indian dress, textiles, and embroidery have had on Western fashion. From the introduction of chintz dressmaking fabrics in the eighteenth century to the early nineteenthcentury vogue for light Indian fabrics, paisleys, and chikan embroideries, to the domination of the Raj and its cultural appropriation, this volume features paintings, fashion magazine editorials, and portraits of influential people who championed Indian style throughout history.”

Inspired By India by Phyllida Jay. Roll Books, 6 Nov 2022, 256 pages. This volume does not address specific Indian fashion designers, but rather the influence of Indian decorative arts on Western ideas of style. The jacket copy reads: “Inspired by India is an exploration of more than six centuries of trade, cultural exchange, and inspiration between India and the West. Through the lens of various material categories, including textiles, fashion, jewelry, and perfume, marvelous stories unfold surrounding the histories of objects and the complex networks of cultural exchange they represent. Indian-inspired objects from luxury houses including Hermès, Chanel, Cartier, and Dior are featured, revealing creative and fascinating stories of inspiration and creativity.”

Fashion India by Phyllida Jay. Thames & Hudson, 25 Jan 2016, 256 pages, 400 illustrations. Drawing on a creative inheritance stretching back thousands of years, the country’s designers are rapidly securing India’s place in the future of fashion. Larger cities like Delhi and Mumbai, (home to Lakmé Fashion Week) are no longer the sole players; Pune and Bangalore are increasingly influential. Young designers are acting on the opportunities provided by increasing affluence and the nation’s fashion shows. Profiles of the designers are interwoven with interviews conducted by the author especially for this book. Lush illustrations of all the

Asia Fashion Today

Fashion-related Books

hottest looks range from luxury bridal and ethnic formal wear to contemporary interpretations of the sari. Descriptions of the various techniques and materials employed reveal the skills derived from traditional crafts like handloom weaving, color-resist dyed silk, intricate embroidery, and appliqué.

India Fantastique Fashion by Abu Jani, Sandeep Khosla, Gayatri Sinha, Ram Shergill (Photographer). Thames & Hudson, 25 Jan 2016, 384 pages, 415 illustrations. For the past thirty years, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have made their mark on the fashion industry by bringing the best of traditional Indian crafts to the world of high fashion: traveling to remote regions, identifying age-old local arts, and executing them to a couture standard in their collections. Their unique designs encompass details such as Indian mirror-work, chikan and zardozi embroidery, and Swarovski crystals. This celebratory publication showcases dozens of the duo’s classically elegant, feminine designs, including specially photographed close-ups of exquisitely crafted details.

Sri Lanka Fashion

No book specifically devoted to contemporary Sri Lankan fashion designers shows up on Amazon.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,

=Douglas Bullis

<asiafashiontoday@gmail.com>

<douglasbullis@gmail.com>

Douglas Bullis