VIENTIANE—Aiming to promote the fashion industry in Lao PDR, more than 50 local and international designers showcased their latest collections at the Laos Fashion Week in September 2019 at the Landmark Mekong Riverside Hotel in the capital city.
Laos designers, former Lao Fashion Week winners and designers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, France and Germany, among many other countries, joined the event that included nightly fashion shows, workshops and seminars on various subjects. It also included the announcement of the winner of Lao Fashion Week 2019, who will then study in fashion institutes in Paris, London, Manila and Bangkok.
Participating fashion designers were also asked to donate some of their works, which were for retail at the Designers Pop-Up Store set up in the event. A percentage of the sales revenue was earmarked to support the Lao Young Designers project, disabled people, as well as the victims of the typhoon and floods in the southern provinces of Laos.
The artistic works of several Filipino designers graced the fashion week’s runway, including Cambodia-based Filipinos Don Protasio, Reynier Abello (Armada), Julius Tarog (JT clothing line), Renan Pacson (creative director of the Arin fashion brand), Christian Edward Dalagaog (CHED Studio), Bryan Peralta (Bryan Peralta Designs), Ann Lorio (Ann Lorio Couture that featured sea glass jewelry) and Albert Andrada, who promoted his Luxewear collection during the culminating event of the fashion week.
Recent graduates of the Fashion Institute of the Philippines (FIP) JJ Aquino and Mariton Villanueva also presented their collections, which featured colorful woven textiles from the Philippines.
In addition, FIP Director Iross Santos-Cramer represented the institute as a judge during the Lao Fashion Week 2019 Contest.
Filipino designers paid a courtesy call at the Philippine Embassy on September 12, 2019. DFA
Image credits: Jean-Christophe Olry/DFA