Coming in June
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Cornell Collins
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West Coast Beauty Trends
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If he was right, then what better place can there be to pursue that dream than Tinsel Town? After attending the Fall 2003 LA Fashion Shows and witnessing the talent and potential of some of the featured designers I have reason to believe that the long awaited and slightly overdue arrival of couture on the West Coast Scene is heralding the dawn of a new era. I believe New York City will no longer be North America's sole fashion capitol. LA designers may have been overshadowed by their East Coast counterparts, but now that the limelight has been cast upon them, they are setting themselves apart. That said, one can not help but wonder who the king or queen of this kingdom of fabric and style will be. My money is on Sue Wong. Who better embodies the edgy, cosmopolitan, sophisticated and multicultural essence of the City of Angels than this visionary goddess, who describes herself as "a true mutated hybrid?" Wong might not be a household name yet, but just wait and see. Soon her hand-beaded "wearable art" gowns will be as ubiquitous as today's Fendi baguettes.
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Sue Wong's Fall Collection impressed me to such an extent that before the models clad in her exquisite creations exited the catwalk I craved to know more about the creative genius who had masterminded this parade of color. Thankfully, Sue was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions and sate my curiosity as to what inspired her work. As the daughter of Chinese immigrants who escaped the communist revolution with hopes for a better future, Sue has been creative since she was a little girl. "I was drawing as early as I can remember, always scribbling on pieces of paper. I grew up wanting to be an artist of some sort, a fine artist, but coming from my traditional Chinese background my parents did not really endorse such an education. They thought it was frivolous.
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Sue Wong's Fall Collection impressed me to such
They really thought I should be an accountant or something." However, as ancient wisdom dictates, all things happen for a reason and in Sue's case it must have been preordained by Ananke-the Greek goddess of fate and destiny-that the little Chinese girl would one day be catapulted to the forefront of the fashion world. Unable to secure parental support for her higher education, Sue took matters into her own hands. Soon after graduating from high school she entered a competition and won the first prize, which was an apprenticeship to the chief designer of a company called Arpeja. After sharpening her skills and learning her craft, Wong quit to open a one-of-a-kind boutique in bohemian Venice. She took vintage clothes and turned them into wearable art by altering the silhouettes and designs long before people had heard of E2 or Imitation of Christ.. She later abandoned the project to design her own line but the vintage sensibilities she acquired lingered on, and manifested themselves in her work in subsequent years.
As we talked, Sue revealed that she has a number of gripes with the fashion industry. "When I look around me in the market these days what I see is this great sense of expediency. Everything is so commercial. It is not really well thought out. We are in a disposable age. What really sets my things apart is that I actually take time because I am a detailer. I incorporate a lot of hand work-embroidery, hand-crochet, beadwork, appliqué. These are beautiful, magnificent, time honored touches," she explained. According to Sue she follows her own creative instincts, but given her love for details, she suspects that she lived in a past life during the 1920s or '30s. I am generally quite skeptical about such beliefs, but having seen her work I can not help but recognize the timeless elegance that her creations exude.
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"After three decades of doing this, I feel that I have really become a master of my game. I feel like I am on top of my game now. I have been through all my trials by error. Now I can do all this stuff literally with my eyes closed," the impossibly sympathetic Wong declared halfway into our pleasant conversation. This self praise was neither vain nor arrogant. She simply stated her strengths with insight and objectivity. Indeed when I inquired as to what she thought about other designers, past and present, instead of holding back she was candid and heaped praise on those who deserved it. "I really admire designers who are true artists and to me John Galliano and YohjiYamamoto fit into that league." These designers celebrate the beauty and divinity of the female through art, which has been Sue's life-long ambition. She believes that "female goddess energy" resides in every woman, and that is exactly the reason why we gravitate towards everything that is really and eternally feminine. Thus, she strives to incorporate that energy into her art. "My work is all about honoring the female energy in all of us," she said. "That is basically how my Yang side manifests itself-in the work that I do.
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However, besides flattering feminine curves, oozing elegance and honoring traditions of timeless craftsmanship, Sue's work also sends a political message to those confined within the narrow precincts of intolerance. "I want to give a message of global unity: that we are basically all the same. My latest collection had influences from Africa, the Middle East, the Far East and Europe. I think we are essentially the same peoples, so we should not be torn apart by intolerance. I tried to deliver this message without necessarily holding up a peace sign." Sue is so comfortable in the skin of an international "bridger" (as she likes to call herself) that she can legitimately deliver a subtle message that is louder than the beat of a drum. "I am a bridger of different worlds. I have a lot of the old world within myself, but I do not only honor the ancient Chinese culture. I honor the ancient traditions of all cultures." This attitude heartily refreshing and encouraging in contemporary times, which are characterized by either organized chaos or reluctant ignorance.
Although Sue personally wears clothes made by deconstructionist Japanese designers, she feels that her own work is closer to that of such designers as McQueen and Galliano "in terms of the category of the senility of the fantasy aspect of the work." In all truth, Sue Wong's creations are about the tasteful amalgamation of young and old, classic and edgy, masculine and feminine. She is an absolute master at striking this balance. She is indeed the true mutated hybrid.
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