A Star Creation

Designer Roderic Wong sits down with Talk Magazine and discusses winning this year's Shanghai Fashion Week.

If there's one upcoming designer to look out for on the Shanghai fashion scene, it's Raffles Design Institute graduate Roderic Wong (Liang Wang). Winning the 'Audi Young Designer Award 2012' at this year's Shanghai Fashion Week and a spot in the upcoming 'Audi Star Creation', one of the biggest fashion events in Singapore showcasing designers from all over Asia, Wong is understandably proud of the name he's developing for himself. "I never expected to win," he says. "And this year I'm the only Chinese finalist for this prestigious award. It's an honour to be representing my country."

Wong didn't initially start out in fashion, first studying computing and graphic design at school, before finding that he was getting tired of sitting in front of a computer. And so he decided to transfer what he'd learnt in graphic design and apply it to fashion, working with a range of materials to put together some truly unique pieces, including those displayed in his award winning 'Tissue of Human Being' collection (pictured) at this year's Fashion Week.

"I was inspired by the idea of scientific tissues coming together to create a living entity," he explains. "The intricacies of it are fascinating. I worked with felt and wool fibre and used these to create a unique texture on fabric wool." Being asked about the production of his designs, he replies, "These aren't easy materials to work with; you can't mass produce the technique I use. A sleeve can take three to five hours. The texture is very detailed, and a handmade item of clothing using this technique will take at least two to three days."

The fact that Wong created his own material was something that the judges at Shanghai Fashion Week picked up on, and was influential in his winning this year's award. "We all loved the fact that he developed his own fabric," said FJ Benjamin Singapore Pte Ltd CEO and Co-Creative Director of Raoul, Douglas Benjamin. "As far as design goes, he had a minimalist point of view, but it was extremely interesting [to see what he did with it]."

Wong says that he was partly influenced by British/Turkish designer Hussein Chalayan, who has made clothing for celebrities including Lady Gaga. "[Chalayan's] early works used a lot of very creative techniques. In his 1993 'The Tangent Flows' collection, he buried some of his outfits under the ground and then took them out, so they had their own texture. He also uses electronic devices. I like the idea that he thinks outside of conventions and I think in my own works, my influence is clear; he proves that when you put your mind to it, anything is possible."

Wong's collections are on display at Raffles Privato. Unit L231, Xintiandi Style, 245 Madang Lu, near Zizhong Lu. Tel: 3304 1108. Web: www.raffles-design-institute.edu.sg