From The Straits Times    |

Obviously there are a lot of aspiring fashion designers in the world; Singapore-based fashion incubation project for young designers, Audi Star Creation, has had over 350 entries for 2013 from 16 countries, including Cambodia, Iraq and Mongolia.

Sixty entries came from the Philippines alone; the other top “providers” of fashion designer aspirants are Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Huge number of entries for Audi Star Creation 2013 fashion design contest DECOR
Looks from Audi Star Creation 2012 winners Roderic Wong from China (above left), Soravit Kaewkamon from Thailand (above centre) and Ko Youngji from South Korea (above right).
Images: Audi Star Creation

“In the last four years, Audi Star Creation has really grown its reach. Beyond the cash prize, many young designers regard it as a stepping stone to launching viable fashion design careers in the region, especially given the opportunity they have to work in Singapore and with a leading retailer like FJ Benjamin,” said Mr David Wang,  vice-president of the Textile & Fashion Federation Singapore (TaFT) and Audi Star Creation judge.

For 2013 the aspiring designers need to create a capsule collection of six original, previously unreleased, designs. based on the theme of “InspirAsian” and using Asian-influenced colours, fabrics and aesthetics

“The standard really has gone up. We were not looking for national costumes or designs more suited to the performing arts, but for designers to draw from their rich histories and cultures, and weave that into their designs in ways that were subtle, modern and relevant, perfect for the global fashionista – and that is what we got,” said Mr Wang.

New to the judging panel for 2013 is Singapore fashion designer Alfie Leong – he’s also the founder of Singapore multi-label boutique W.E. Workshop Elements in Wisma Atria, a great place to check out Singapore fashion labels.

“I was wowed by the artistry in many of the submissions and can’t wait to see how some of them come alive on the runway,” said Mr Leong. “As a fellow fashion designer, I feel a lot of pride about the amount of hard work that clearly went into each submission. Some designers even went so far as to create their own fabrics.”

The first round of judging saw 36 semi-finalists chosen; the finalists will be further whittled down to 12 designers who will come to Singapore for the final round of judging which includes a runway show during Singapore’s “fashion week” in May.

Winners will receive $10,000 in cash and a one-year internship with FJ Benjamin – the owners of Singapore fashion label Raoul. On top of this, one of the three winners will also receive the Audi Young Designer Award (AYDA) which comes with an additional $10,000 cash prize.

Artisan skills helped Roderic Wong from China win the Audi Star Creation and AYDA titles in 2012; he will be presenting his capsule collection – alongside fellow winners Ko Youngji from South Korea and Soravit Kaewkamon from Thailand – at Audi Fashion Exchange in May, 2013. The collections will also be a part of the Blueprint tradeshow that is held at the same time.

You can learn more about Audi Star Creation 2013 and the designers chosen to be finalists via starcreation.sg, or follow the contest on its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/StarCreationSG and Twitter at @StarCreationSG.