London Fashion Week is now in full swing; while Christopher Bailey took his final bow at Burberry’s February 2018 show on day 2, Malaysian fashion designer Cassey Gan made her (very) exciting debut through Fashion Scout. Fresh off her presentation, she gave us an insight into her first LFW experience, and what to expect from her eponymous label next:
1. How did the opportunity to show at London Fashion Week with Fashion Scout come about?
I have known about Fashion Scout for a few years and I have applied to show with them for a couple of years. Finally, this year’s AW18 application got me through! There are options to do runways or presentation. I opted for the latter because for this season, I would like to try showing in a different light, having my own set and also having the audience come up close to take photos of the details.
2. Tell us more about the whole process.
When we got to know that I will be showing with Fashion Scout, we had about six weeks to put together an entirely new collection. Many sleepless nights conceptualizing and researching to build a collection. It was 6 weeks of non-stop working and thankfully I have a very capable team to help me through this period. Soon after we arrived in London, we went straight to model casting. In about 5 hours, we saw about 400 models which was rather overwhelming as it was our first time at a casting! After that, we started building the blocks for our set. On show day, we were blessed with very professional teams from hair and makeup to show production and PR. Although nervous and anxious at the beginning, they helped tremendously in making sure we are in good hands. Everything happened really quickly, from backstage prep to rehearsal to show. With tremendous help from the fashion scout and PR team, the show went really smooth and calm. It was also our first experience of a show that started and ended right on time! All in all, it was a great experience and I hope that this will help widen the audience for our label.
3. Can you describe your Autumn/Winter 2018 collection in three words?
Quirky, unexpected and fun!
4. How many looks did you show at your presentation?
I did 14 looks.
5. Was there a designer who really impressed you?
I-am-Chen from China who showed with Fashion Scout as well. I absolutely love her work!
6. What is your biggest takeaway from this LFW experience?
Doing a presentation during LFW makes me want to work even harder to constantly being able to compete on an international level. There are so many talents around and it is important to keep to a brand identity that differentiates yourself from the rest.
7. Now that you’ve made your London Fashion Week debut, is there another city you’d like to “conquer” next?
I would like to keep working hard and have the opportunity to show on an international platform. In particular, I would like to be able to keep going back to London and maybe Japan as well.
8. What’s next for you and the brand?
In two weeks, we will be doing the Sakura Project in Japan where one selected designer from each Southeast Asian country fly to Japan to showcase a capsule collection—it’s a project I am personally very excited about! After that, it is back to the routine of prepping for the production of our new collection and designing the next collection—the cycle goes on.
Cassey Gan’s A/W 2018 collection
Inspired by artist Maria Svarbova’s famed photo series, ‘Swimming Pool’—a set of painted photographers set amongst the functionalist architectural remnants of Slovak communism—Cassey turned the image of the blue water into ripple-like lines, without forgetting the brand’s signature brush-stroke prints. Pops of bright red gave the overall blue colour palette that extra zest. Below, the looks from Cassey Gan’s Autumn/Winter 2018 collection:
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