Emerging Fervour

After spending a week touring around London Fashion Week exhibits I saw plenty of emerging talent. For me, Viking Wong certainly stood out among this expansive group. As a young British graduate, originally from Hong Kong, he displayed top notch tailoring in wearable fashion pieces. This is only his third collection and his first Spring/Summer collection but his skill and potential are remarkable. I was lucky to be able to ask him a few questions and can now fill you in on this talented, emerging designer.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your background of what got you into fashion design?

I was born and raised in Hong Kong until the age of 15, then I left to study and wandered around the world. I’ve been brought up with a business background, my family is in the garment industry so it’s only natural I go for something similar. Besides I am a free spirit, I can’t work in a 9 to 5 office job. Eventually, one thing lead to another, I got into London College of Fashion doing womenswear and graduated with a 1st class honours, gained some experiences in competitions and got picked up by Vauxhall Fashion Scout to make a debut in London & Paris Fashion Week straight after graduation.

The first time I checked out Tetsuya’s work, I was a little lost for words. I mean, it’s not every day that you see something like this from a footwear designer…

Or how about these?

Tetsuya Uenobe studied shoe design at the London College of Fashion after moving from Japan. After this little stint in London, Tetsuya moved back to Japan to set up his label ‘UENOBE’ in 2003, where he’s become a household name for his out-there creations.

You may think that these creations are more like pieces of art than ready-to-wear…and you’d be right because Tetsuya has exhibited his collection at the Open Gallery at Omotesando, Tokyo and contemporary art museum, Art Tower Mito – both of these exhibitions were recommendations by Hanae Mori, Japans most prominent and respected fashion designers AND the only female Japanese designer to have presented her collections on the London and Paris runways.