TEXT BY HAIDA YUSOF.
Asian designers may have steadily graced the runways of the Big Four for decades, but winds of change from the designers of some of Asia’s powerful and developing nations may have shaken even the solid foundations of legacy fashion houses as of late. From Vietnam all the way to the Middle East, the rise and rise of these emerging fashion houses have manifested as not just one-off red carpet statement pieces for celebrities, but also as enthusiastic approval from reputable social media commentary pages like UpNextDesigner and Outlander. Their arrival in the droves in the global spotlight goes far beyond their sensational online presence, carried on more so by several key points that brought Asian designers out from the obscurity of Western-centric media coverage.
From the exclusive couture inductees to the edgy prêt à porter lines that shake up the establishment, these Asian designers have commandeered the demands of the public through several factors that propelled the transference of interest towards their Asian labels. Perhaps one can count the “luxury revolution” by consumers of largely established brands where prices of raw costs and production have doubled, even tripled, since 2019. Another contributing factor, the steep ascent of these costs that many deemed unrealistic with reports of quality not justifying the retail price suggested, a direct offense from some of these brands that favour a value-based pricing model over the traditional cost-based pricing that highlight the savoir faire and cost-to-make of their products.
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Asian labels hailing from manufacturing powerhouses like China and India, just to name a few, can carry on production at a reasonable cost, outwardly maintaining the level or workmanship due to the abundance of workforce and promising high production quality. Contributing to this is the distinguished demand from the massive Asian diaspora on designs that celebrate the vaguely explored, rich Asian heritage and identity. A prime example can be derived from underdog nations like India, who boast their very own couture-worthy production techniques that doesn’t just rely on elevating traditional creations done by designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, but also show potential in out-of-the box craftsmanship to boot with futurist nodes of heritage-dressing.
Innovative raconteurs like Rahul Mishra and Gaurav Gupta are among them; who recently became members of the elite Fédérationde la Haute Couture et de la mode of France, satiating the whims of the audience with contemporary tastebuds. With powerful star power carrying the brands like a stamp of approval from no less than Zendaya during the opening of the Nita Ambani Mukesh Cultural Center, Beyonce during her Renaissance Tour and even Indian It girls like Natasha Poonawalla and Mona Patel who patronised these otherworldly designs, it advertently set the fashion community tongues wagging in excitement to these rarely seen blend of Asian modernity and tradition.
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Korea, which oversaw a boom of its fashion and beauty scenes thanks to its K-wave influence, transformed the Far East into a reputable fashion destination on its own unique accord. Fever pitch data collected from Media Impression Values brought upon by their other most valuable exports, K-pop idols helped position the Korean fashion zeitgeist on centre stage. Gentle Monster, the Korean cult eyewear label, is just one of the few brands capitalising on this opportunity.
Strategic partnerships with stars like Jennie of mega girl group Blackpink and collaborations with some of Europe’s most iconic brands like Margiela and Mugler is a success story worth running a marketing deep dive into. Korea doesn’t just limit itself to its edgy ready-to-wear and accessory labels. High end couturiers like Maison Kimhekim or Miss Sohee for instance, debuted at the prestigious French couture circuit with a dramatic sartorial lesson in Korean history and art to the masses. Miss Sohee, barely five years old since its establishment in 2020, has so far brought in an impressive 3 million Euros in revenue in 2024 alone (as reported by The Financial Times).
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Along with the fast-paced, ever-evolving fashion spectrum today, active consumers who are largely Millennials and Gen Zers are becoming more aware and selective of what they choose to spend their hard-earned cash on in this troubling economic climate. The battle in capturing the attention economy in an over-saturated market is challenging when consumers are pigeon-holed with only a concentrated, repetitive buffet of options. This isn’t a dismissal of Europe in maintaining its relevance as a cornerstone of fashion; but as change is constant, this implies that the birth of trends could stretch beyond the four corners of the fashion world of Europe and the United States.
The handlers of “the powers that be” may soon very well change hands and manoeuvre consumers towards alternative labels in Asia, which will prophesy the dominance of the largely underexplored continent on the future of fashion. As data shows promising reflections of how Asian fashion isn’t limited to its own niche audience, if this is not a call for young Malaysian designers to step out of their own bubble to capture the eyelines of a global audience, when else would it be?
