Asian designers are no strangers to American fashion catwalks. Names like Vera Wang, Alexander Wang, and Jason Wu always make headlines whenever their clothes are presented on the runway.
Unlike the fashion giants mentioned above, however, a new batch of Asian-born and Asian-trained designers are out to prove that they can make their mark in the international fashion scene with little or no western influence.
Lie Sang Bong, one of the designers participating in the New York Fashion Week catwalk event, said they have a much stronger cultural point of view that they can combine for optimum impact.
Lie is a South Korean designer who founded the brand Lie Sangbong. His creations take inspiration from Korean landscapes, literature and architecture, but are also influenced by the fashion approach of female New Yorkers and Parisian couture. He is set to open a store in New York in October.
Other notable Asian designers include Zhuliang Li from Shanghai, who debuted his luxury brand Oudifu. His line's success at home can be seen in the 200 retail stores that house his collections.
Another designer, Tao Wang, is a designer at Broadcast, a big Chinese label that has 800 stores. The Japanese-trained Wang is planning to launch her own collection, Taoray Wang, in New York.
While currently expanding their lines and making their names known in the US market, the designers will still keep firm roots in Asia.
Son Jung Wan, a South Korean designer, said she does not want to shift her focus from any one market, but rather finds it more important to further out the reach of the brand. Her designs feature the use of rough-textured fabrics in soft and feminine silhouettes, which for her is an effort to equally and harmoniously combine Asian and Western cultural expressions.
New York Fashion Week, which runs until September 18, showcases the spring 2015 collections of participating designers.
