Every year Fashion Farm Foundation (FFF), supported and funded by Create Hong Kong, showcases the best and brightest local fashion talent at FFFriday through a series of presentations and pop-up stores. Undeterred by recent events, the emerging designers, Feaston, KA WA KEY, Ponder.er, SFZ & SON and YMDH will be presenting their latest collections through a video campaign launching today. Get to know the founders below.

Feaston

Tatler Asia
Above Photo: Courtesy of FFF
Tatler Asia
Above Photo: Courtesy of FFF

Who are your creative inspirations?

Terence Chan: John Cage and Demna Gvasalia, designer of Balenciaga

What inspired you to pursue fashion?

TC: All the amazing street style

What do you love most about Hong Kong?

TC: The locals' funky style

Tell us an unusual source of your inspiration

TC: An intense face on a bus advert really captured our attention so we made a T-shirt with his face on it

Who would you most like to see wear your clothes?

TC: 陶大宇 (Michael Tao Tai-yu)

Ka Wa Key

Tatler Asia
Above Photo: Courtesy of FFF

Who are your creative inspirations?

Key: I really love the dreaminess of [photographer] Tim Walker’s work and he visuals and humor of the work of [film director] Wes Anderson. [Fashion Designer] Issey Miyake because how he expresses the beauty of his Japanese heritage through his textiles

Jarno: [Film Director] Baz Luhrman has an amazingly magically visual, camp and glittely way of telling stories.
[Choreographer and director] Sir Matthew Bourne re-invented “ballet” and dance for the people. He has the ability to tell stories by combining elements of musical, old Hollywood film and dance. [Fashion designer] Alexander McQueen he went against all odds and saw fashion more than just clothes. His presentation and shows were something, no one has been able to match before or after him.

What inspired you to pursue fashion?

K: Through fashion I can express my self and fashion is my way of telling stories stories. I love experimenting with different fabrics, textures and techniques.

J: Fashion is so much more than just clothes and I love the multi layered nature of it. Fashion challenges you at so many different levels and forces you to find solutions constantly.

What do you love most about Hong Kong?

K: I really love and miss the energy and of course the food. 

J: I love the food and the way how Hong Kong is so different compared to Northern Europe.

Tell us a story behind one of your designs

K: I knitted one jumper only using waste yarns and it was a combination of machine and hand knitting. The jumper was eventually knitted in three continents: Europe, North America and Asia. It is a very special jumper and so many thing happened while making it, a few missed flights, good food, amazing sceneries, many many amazing people, sweet memories.

Who would you most like to see wear your clothes?

K: Troye Sivan. He is not afraid to be what he truly is, and he would looks super good in our designs.

J: I would love to create red carpet look for Marilyn Monroe, but realistically I would love Cher to wear our design.

Ponder.er

Tatler Asia
Above Photo: Courtesy of FFF
Tatler Asia
Above Photo: Courtesy of FFF

Who are your creative inspirations?

Alex Po & Derek Cheng: Walter van Beirendonck, Dries Van Noten (even more so now as he’s leading a discussion within the industry to challenge the current rigid fashion system and calendar), Helmut Lang

What inspired you to pursue fashion?

AP & DC: To explore the relationship between fashion and identity. And to hopefully change or widen the concept of masculinity. 

What do you love most about Hong Kong?

AP & DC: The diversity of people, the eagerness for people to thrive and to search for new ideas, the real and one-of-a-kind local culture and identity hidden underneath this cold and hyper-capitalist shell.

Tell us a story behind one of your designs

AP & DC: We often attempt to liquefy traditional menswear shapes and details. It was a challenging process creating our mohair knit cardigan with denim jacket details. Our knit technician warned us that by using such a method the garment would lose its structure, we insisted that we want the whole garment including all details to be liquefied like water, both the knit technician and us bursted into laughter after but thankfully she was so helpful in achieving our vision, and we named it "Water" because of this incident.

Who would you most like to see wear your clothes?

AP & DC: Tilda Swinton, Oh Hyuk from Hyukoh, Harry Styles, Leslie Cheung (If we were born earlier)

SFZ & SON

Tatler Asia
Above Photo: Courtesy of FFF

Who are your creative inspirations?

Sonic Lam: Rei Kawakubo, she was a success in both creativity and business 

What inspired you to pursue fashion?

SL: The Pop culture, mostly the 80’s to 90’s Japanese fashion

What do you love most about Hong Kong?

SL: The mixed culture of East and West

Tell us a story behind one of your designs

SL: While I was working on my sample, my cat peed on it. Yes, that was a surprise.

Who would you most like to see wear your clothes?

SL: I would like to see any of the teenager wear my design. It’s kind of building my brand’s community

YMDH

Tatler Asia
Above Photo: Courtesy of FFF

Who are your creative inspirations?

Jason Lee: Yohji Yamamoto

What inspired you to pursue fashion?

JL: The history and transformation of fashion.

What do you love most about Hong Kong?

JL: Everything about its past.

Which is your favorite design?

JL: Our Smiling Tee, which combines Chinese calligraphy with a street art symbol—that makes me smile.

Who would you most like to see wear your clothes?

JL: Everybody, if possible

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