Viengkham Nanthavongdouangsy, co-founder and head of design and production at the Phaeng Mai Gallery in Vientiane recently had the chance to exhibit her fashion collection at the Asean Fashion Designers Showcase in Singapore.

Viengkham said the exhibition took place at the Orchard Gateway Hotel in Singapore earlier this month.

At the time, she was very excited about the event and greatly appreciated the opportunity to showcase her new collection, called Khang, alongside the works of other talented designers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Asean Fashion Designers Showcase is a mini creation that sees designers from six Asean countries displaying six costume collections to represent the best that each country has to offer in the field of fashion.

A pop-up shop was available for participating designers to display their collections and brands, with each allowed to bring a total of 30 costumes.

Viengkham said she was very happy with the chance to showcase her fashion collection on the catwalk at this fashion event and promote Lao fabric designers to become more well-known on the international stage.

She explained that the Asean Fashion Designers Showcase permits each designer to exhibit a total of six outfits for the fashion shows but an additional 30 outfits are allowed for the pop up stores.

She brought her new brand “Khang” to showcase to the public’s eyes on the runway with foreign models parading her designs on the catwalk.
Viengkham exhibited mostly items made from Lao silk, woven from the threads produced by silkworms and Okansa fabric, whose light textures produce a flowing and attractively glinting garment with an eye-catching sheen.

She said the fashions displayed at this event contained a modern twist and had to be garments that people can wear both during the day and in the evening, using the colours red, grey and gold.

This Singapore fashion show was a great opportunity to promote the burgeoning Lao fashion industry and show that the country’s designers are ready to compete with the best from the region and further afield.

It also served to encourage further cross cultural and creative collaboration while achieving mainstream regional brand awareness for all fashion designers as well as making them aware of how to tweak different styles, sizes and fabrications to suit each local country’s market.

Future plans are to nurture up-and-coming local fashion designers and models with the aim to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the fashion industry in the region.

Fashion counterparts in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia are now in the midst of planning Asean Fashion Designers Showcases in their respective countries to further promote the idea.