AirAsia’s annual designer search, AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search, held its 2017 Grand Finale last August 18 at Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week Ready To Wear 2017 (KLFW RTW 2017).
The finale saw a total of twenty young talents from all 10 Asean countries showcase their Asean-themed creations on the runway.
Two top aspiring designers were selected to represent each country after a regionwide audition tour across Asean. The search kicked off in April in Manila before moving on to Bandar Seri Begawan, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Yangon, Jakarta, Bangkok, Vientiane and ended in Phnom Penh in June.
Tran Thi Tu from Vietnam was announced as the Grand Winner and walked away with prizes including a confirmed show segment to showcase their full collection at KLFW RTW 2018, a year-long mentorship from the KLFW RTW team, P300,000 sponsored by FashionValet to produce a capsule collection to be sold on fashionvalet.com, 150,000 AirAsia BIG Points, a six-page fashion spread in AirAsia’s Travel3Sixty inflight magazine, a special feature in Female Malaysia magazine and a pair of AirAsia return flights.
Aireen Omar, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Berhad said, “As a truly Asean airline, we are proud to continue our initiative through this platform and expand the designer search to a regional level with talents from all 10 Asean countries. We are very impressed with what we’ve witnessed on the runway today. Asean has great potential and we believe that, with continuous support and guidance from fashion industry leaders, business owners as well as members of the media, the fashion industry can flourish across the region.”
Andrew Tan, Founder of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week Ready To Wear said, “Having AirAsia as a Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week partner for the past three years has undeniably been an incredible privilege. This partnership allowed us to not only access regional media and influencers but to forge stronger multilateral relationships with opinion leaders, fashion schools, designers and fashion industry activators in neighboring countries. The growth of AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search from five countries last year to 10 countries this year will be instrumental in paving the way for Kuala Lumpur to be the fashion hub of Asean in the near future, a future made possible with the strength of the collaboration between AirAsia and Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week”.
Vivy Yusof, Co-Founder of FashionValet said, “This year has been nothing short of spectacular. From talented local designers to experiencing the best of what Asean has to offer, it has been a whirlwind adventure. FashionValet is honoured to carry the debut line of last year's winner from Thailand, Anuruk Jaidee, and we hope this will be the start of more exciting Asean brands on our platform. I am thankful to Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week and AirAsia for collaborating with us at FashionValet and look forward to discovering even more talent in 2018.”
AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search was established with the aim of empowering youth and developing young talents in the fashion industry across the region. This year’s panel of judges for the Grand Finale included judges from all Asean countries, as well as Aireen Omar, CEO of AirAsia Berhad; Andrew Tan, Founder of KLFW RTW; and Vivy Yusof, Co-Founder of FashionValet. Rides for the regional judges for the grand finale were sponsored by Uber.
Last year’s AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search winner, Anuruk Jaidee from Thailand, also made a special appearance and showcased his full collection on the KLFW RTW 2017 runway.
AirAsia is also KLFW RTW 2017’s Preferred Travel Partner and is proud to have flown in international fashion designers from across AirAsia’s extensive route network, including Ka-Sha (India), Reclothing Bank (China), Resurrection (South Korea), TAKK (Japan), Yousef Akbar (Australia) and Anthony Ramirez (Philippines).
AirAsia BIG Loyalty Programme and FashionValet are proud sponsors of AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2017.
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