HKTDC Focus
This year’s style extravaganza sees fashion greats and up-and-comers showcasing their latest at CENTRESTAGE 2019 in Hong Kong
Dubbed “Asia’s Fashion Spotlight” and widely recognised as one of Asia’s signature fashion events, annual fashion trade show CENTRESTAGE returns this autumn. Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, and sponsored by Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the event is an important platform for international fashion brands—Asian brands in particular—to launch and promote their designers.
This year sees around 240 global and homegrown fashion brands and designer labels showcasing their creations across the four-day run. Not only is it the perfect channel through which to appraise the latest that the style world has to offer, the event also provides an invaluable networking opportunity for brands, buyers, media, and fashion enthusiasts throughout the trend talks, seminars and runway shows. While the first three days are only open to trade visitors, the last day—titled OPENSTAGE—is open to trade and public visitors alike.
The pièce de résistance of CENTRESTAGE is undoubtedly the CENTRESTAGE ELITES Opening Gala Show, where the star designers, mostly hailing from Asia, are invited to introduce their latest collections. At least a thousand invited celebrities, socialites, fashionistas, designers and other industry professionals are expected at the opening show, taking place from 7pm to 7:30pm on September 4 at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre’s Grand Hall.
This year’s featured designers are Anais Mak of ANAÏS JOURDEN and Joseph Altuzarra of ALTUZARRA, who will be presenting their pre-spring 2020 collections in Asia for the first time. Mak, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and cut her teeth at Studio Berçot in Paris, is well-known for her mastery of texture and technique, resulting in timeless formalwear that combines tradition and femininity with modernity and an innovative spirit.
Altuzarra, meanwhile, unifies his French, American and Chinese backgrounds in his luxury women’s ready-to-wear and accessories brand. Past apprenticeships at Marc Jacobs ad Proenza Schouler have endowed him with the skills required to craft alluring yet avant-garde attire for the modern woman.