"I'm Leonard Wong ... let's meet again sometime," beamed a digitized version of the designer's countenance in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean as his first Tokyo fashion week show reached its dramatic conclusion.
It was a message in lieu of the customary self-deprecating bow and interview designers are supposed to grant attendees, but Leonard Wong's eponymous label is not a brand to play the fashion game. It was also a bolder message than the cavalcade of strict geometric-clad models he sent down the runway in a city where feminine means frills. Speaking directly to the East Asian market in attendance, Wong acknowledged the audience's presence and welcomed it in a manner surprisingly rare in a week where even a multilingual press release is a rarity.
"To be honest I think the runways of Tokyo fashion week have been a bit boring up until now, too conventional," Wong says in a rare interview from his Nihombashi atelier. "A runway show is a place where you display not just the collection, but the concept behind it. The composition of the show itself should be as important as the clothes."
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