Alas, to be a modern woman.....

The Hong Kong Arts Festival has begun and it has started off with a bang. I love the arts, in any form, whether it is a canvas on a stark wall, or in yesterday's case, in the form of Kun Qu, the oldest form of Chinese opera. It was my first ever experience with Chinese opera and I was wholly hooked. I was fortunate enough to see one of the most famous operas, The Peach Blossom Fan, which was written in 1699 by a descendant of Confucius. How is this related to fashion, you ask? Very simply, the costumes were stunning. Sitting in the fifth row of the auditorium, I could see the amazing quality of the embroidery on each costume. Apparently, 1000 embroiderers from Suzhou were hired to work on the costumes. The costumes were art forms of their own. For a moment, I wondered what it would be like to be a woman in the Qing dynasty.



It is not very visible in the picture, but the attention to detail was astounding. Sitting in the fifth row of the auditorium, I noticed that the white sleeves of each garment were embroidered with white flowers.



This was the wedding scene between the two main characters the poet, Hou Fang Yu and the courtesan, Li Xiang Jun.



This is my favorite scene and costumes. The color contrasts in the scene is modern and sophisticated. Notice the amazing cranes on Li Xiang Jun's cape.

During the intermission (it was a 3-and-a-half hours opera), I got to see the costumes up close and personal. Of course, out came the camera.





Its comforting to know that this type of handiwork still exists in the world.......

If there is an interest in what the opera was like, some wonderful person filmed it and put it on youtube.com. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0MM1zzAMuE&mode=related&search=
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGAz8Df3jgM&mode=related&search=

Our own Marc.....

Hong Kong maybe a fashion capital, in the sense that people here are extremely well-dressed but we don't foster a lot of fashion designers that make it. Of course, our most famous one is Vivienne Tam, but she made it in New York City. I think it is because of our limited choices, Barney Cheng is Hong Kong's version of Marc Jacobs. Unlike Vivienne Tam, he decided to stay in Hong Kong and make a go of it on this tiny island. So far so good. He was just endowed with the SCMP/Harper Bazaar's Style Awards Fashion Designer of the Year. Currently, he has stopped doing ready-to-wear and is focusing on couture. In his own words:

"Ready-to-wear can be stressful and you never get to see who your end consumers are. It's business-driven and seasonal performance relies heavily on market sentiment. Couture, on the other hand, allows me greater freedom to do what I love doing and I enjoy interacting with my clients. I'm staunchly against globalisation because as a designer I like to see unique pieces being created as labours of love."