PolyU Fashion Show 2022 Nurturing young talents for the fashion industry

32 graduating students of the School of Fashion and Textiles (SFT) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) showcased their talent through their creative designs at the PolyU Fashion Show 2022 earlier. The students demonstrated their distinctive styles and concepts in their graduation projects to industry professionals, families and friends at the annual show staged at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

This is the first undergraduate fashion show after the upgrade of the School and marks the return of the annual iconic institutional show after a two-year break due to the pandemic.

The Show presented exciting works by newly graduating students from the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Scheme in Fashion and Textiles, embracing the three majors of fashion design, knitwear design, and intimate apparel and activewear design. Providing an opportunity for the students to share their amazing designs on the catwalk, the Show attracted nearly 700 guests including influential figures from the industry, famous fashion designers, media friends and fashion bloggers, while an audience of over 7,000 watched the live show online.

The Show was officiated by Prof. Jin-guang TENG, President of PolyU; Prof. Wing-tak WONG, Deputy President and Provost of PolyU; Dr Miranda LOU, Executive Vice President of PolyU; and Prof. Raymond WONG; Interim Dean of SFT. Prof. Raymond Wong said, “This year is a special year for PolyU. Not only is PolyU celebrating its 85th anniversary, but the Institute of Textiles and Clothing has been upgraded to an independent school – the School of Fashion and Textiles. During our 65-year history, the School has aligned its operation with the mission of PolyU in many ways, including through its ground-breaking innovations, effective pedagogies and critical contributions to scholarship.”

Reflecting their solid design training from SFT, each finalist demonstrated three pieces of design from their collection, competing for the various awards and scholarships offered and supported by our industry partners. The judging panel comprised (in alphabetical order):

• Ms Janet Cheung, Project Director, Hong Kong Fashion Designers Association
• Mr Tony Kong, Assistant President, Fountain Set (Holdings) Limited
• Ms Ale Lau, Chief Designer, Yintak Intex Co. Limited
• Ms Constance Lee, Founder, ConStyle
• Ms Hoi-ni Leung, Head of Creation, Pioneer Elastic (Hong Kong) Limited
• Mr Ronan Leung, Creative Design Manager, Avery Dennison RBIS Apparel Solutions
• Ms Karen Ng, Secretary, Hong Kong Intimate Apparel Industries’ Association
• Ms Nicola Shears, Head of Creative Design Asia, Triumph International Services (APAC) Limited
• Mr Kit Wan, Founder, Kit Wan Studios
• Ms Brenda Yang, Technical Manager, The Woolmark Company and Flinders Merino Group
• Mr Ryan Yeung, Chief Designer, Legend Swimwear Factory Limited
• Ms Dilys Yiu, Director, Fenix Group Holdings Limited
• Mr Karmuel Young, Founder, Karmuel Young

The Overall Winner was TSANG On-ting with their theme of “Exhausting a crowd”. Please refer to the appendix for the full list of awardees.

As the success of our alumni is of vital importance to the School, a series of home-coming events was also hosted. Three outstanding alumni designers, who were once selected as the finalists of their graduation show - Ms Constance Lee (BA, 2013), Mr Kit Wan (BA, 2013) and Mr Karmuel Young (BA, 2007) - were invited to join our judging panel for the selection of the Overall Winner, 1st Runner-up and 2nd Runner-up awards for the fashion and knitwear design finalists. These outstanding alumni designers not only established their own design labels after graduation but have also become key figures in defining and shaping the Hong Kong fashion industry.

SFT maintains strong ties with its alumni, and their success stories are inspiring, encouraging and valuable to both young talents and the industry as a whole. In this show, 14 alumni designers who received awards from 2021 and 2022, but could not show their works due to the pandemic, were invited to showcase them with current graduating students so as to share their success with us.

About the School of Fashion and Textiles

Over the past 65 years, the PolyU Institute of Textiles and Clothing has nurtured many talented and distinguished professionals for the fashion and manufacturing industries. On 1 July 2022, the Institute was renamed and upgraded to the School of Fashion and Textiles, to serve as another flagship and independent school within PolyU.

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