'The fashion battlefield in China' & 'Chinese Opera Mask Art and Chinese Tradition'

Thursday 8th May 2014, Pacino Wan & Victor Tong

'The fashion battlefield in China' an overview of the struggle to break into the fashion industry in Asia. 'Chinese Opera Mask Art and Chinese Tradition' based on the symbolism of colours in Chinese film.

The lecture on the 8th May hosted by Wan told of the struggles faced by young designers when trying to break into the fashion industry. As one of Asia's most promising young designers, once hailed as the 'Moschino of China', Wan understands exactly how hard it is to get to a respectable place. In the lecture, Wan talked about how hard it is to get retail space in Hong Kong. As you can imagine there is lack of space due to sheer amount of volume of people in the city. Once retail space has been gained you are then hit with the high rental prices. It then becomes harder for the designer to support the shop. All these aspects build up to make it a struggle for those wanting to share their designs. Once the space is attained it would need to be maximised which is what Wan did creating unique window displays to attract to his unique and wacky designs. 

Victor Tong then touched on 'Chinese Opera Mask Art and Chinese Tradition' which was based around the symbolism of colours in Chinese Opera. Tong himself has unlimited amounts of experience working in image and make-up design, therefore Tong knows the importance of colours. When talking about symbolism during the lecture, I thought of the book 'If it's Purple, someone's gonna die. The power of colour in Visual Storytelling', by Patti Bellantoni. The book focuses on the symbolism of colours in tv and film which related to the topic Tong discussed.