Mercedes Benz Fashion Week: Zang Toi Autumn 2014

The master of drama, Zang Toi, does it again with an Autumn 2014 show, Shanghai 1930's, "Paris of the Orient", inspired by jazz-age Shanghai glamour.  The show started with a model wearing Loro Piana cashmere Geoplaid 1930's Gangster's trouser suit with a silver fox stole.  It felt like I was in the setting of a 1930's film noir.  Capes, trench coats, fedoras angled perfectly atop coifed waves, sensual thigh high stockings and boots, added to the mystique.  The hue of the evening was a brilliant jade green.  

Style.Uz Art Week 2013: Kosuke Tsumura, Final Home Fashion Show

Koksuke Tsumura's Final Home showed his collection with a runway show at Style.Uz Art Week 2013.  Kosuke Tsumura is an acclaimed Japanese fashion designer, who in 1994 created the survival brand Final Home.  Its concept is "Survival - Protection - Function - Recycle".  The creativity of the Final Home also resides in their ability to use a wide variety of materials from filters to air conditions to 'akasuri' (a cloth used to scrub oneself in a bath).  The brand also designs other products such as sofas made form cardboard or candles made of chocolate.  I spoke to Mr. Tsumura backstage about his inspiration, which he said was the future and materials.  He said that people used to think that natural materials were primitive, but now new chemical and manmade materials are considered primitive.  Tsumura considers his designs as art and not fashion.

Final Home's jackets are multi-purpose and utilitarian.  When its pockets are stuffed with newspapers, they protect the wearer from the bitter cold. When filled with emergency goods, it becomes an evacuation jacket. 

With Designer Kosuke Tsumura

TC Charton - Asian Fit Eyewear

Looking for sunglasses has always been a painstaking project for me.  It's hard to find the right shape to fit my face well.  Sunglasses wind up being to big for my face or slide down the bridge of my nose.  I found out about TC Charton during fashion week and had the opportunity to try them on and really loved the fit.  TC Charton is sleek, modern and timeless all at once.  The idea behind each frame design is based on distinctive American style with careful consideration of the colors and styles that best complement Asian features.

I met designer Alexandra Peng who hand picked some glasses and was kind enough to give me a sample.  ”I grew up believing there was something wrong with my face because nothing fit,” said Peng. “But just like you would never send a petite person to shop at the big and tall store, I realized the glasses were just never made to fit my features.” Alexandra Peng spent more 16 years in the optical industry, designing eyewear for luxury brands and seeing them through from conception to production, before finally starting her
own Asian Fit Eyewear line, TC Charton.  “I want to be able to reach out to as many Asian Americans as possible,” said Peng. “I want them to know there’s an eyewear collection designed from the ground up, with them in mind,” said Peng.  To learn more about TC Charton, visit their website here.

With Designer Alexandra Peng