The Hong Kong–Based Designers We Can’t Wait to Watch at New York Fashion Week

Fashion Month kicks off this week in New York, and we’re anxiously anticipating the new Fall/Winter 2018 designs, trends, and highlights. While we’ve seen major powerhouse names such as Rebecca Minkoff, Tommy Hilfiger, and (soon) Alexander Wang leave their NYFW base, we’re excited to see some fresh faces in New York this season.

Three Hong Kong–based designer labels—Anveglosa, Harrison Wong, and Heaven Please+—will showcase their latest collections in the 3rd annual Fashion Hong Kong show at New York Fashion Week on February 9th. I had the pleasure of visiting Hong Kong in January to attend the 49th Hong Kong Fashion Week, hosted by Hong Kong Trade Development Council, where there were runway shows, industry seminars, and Asia’s largest trade fair with more than 1,000 exhibitors.

I also had the opportunity to personally meet all three designers and learn about their brands, upcoming collections, and goals for New York Fashion Week. These designers are talented, have exquisite craftsmanship, and are taking Hong Kong fashion to an entirely new level. Find out more about them below.

Heaven Please+

Design duo Yi Chan and Lary Cheung founded Heaven Please+ in 2011 and have since shown at Tokyo Fashion Week and opened their first retail store in 2013. They both studied fashion design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and after graduation Chan pursued a career as a fashion editor at Marie Claire, and Cheung worked as a designer for Kent & Curwen and Aquascutum.

Now with Heaven Please+, the pair is changing the conversation about fashion in Hong Kong. They said it’s hard to find interesting brands in Hong Kong, so they wanted to focus on creating something special for the people who live there. Their collection has traditional and functional suiting fabrics, but their designs are anything but ordinary. They mix sportswear concepts like a rain jacket with a couture level of design and elegance. Heaven Please+’s customer is the businesswoman who’s a dreamer who gets shit done but loves art and music.

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Harrison Wong

Harrison Wong will be returning for his third season at New York Fashion Week. He made his eponymous brand debut by winning the Hong Kong Young Designers’ Contest and the Grand Prix Contest in Japan and has since shown his men’s collections in Milan, Shanghai, Taipei, Sydney, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Having only started his label four years ago, Wong has an impressive roster of experience. He also has multiple retail stores (with both men’s and women’s clothing) in Hong Kong.

The Harrison Wong brand aesthetic is contemporary—edgy but still elegant. The pieces are minimal with sporty elements, and you’ll find a large variety of oversized and unisex clothing. Wong has perfected the deconstructed streetwear look and focuses on texture and fashion-forward pieces.

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Anveglosa

Created by self-taught designer Annette Chan, Anveglosa was launched in 2007, and this will be the designer’s first time showing at NYFW. The line exhibits meticulous craftsmanship, high-quality materials such as leather and silk, and detailed design. Leather is a huge staple in the collection, and Chan said she loves that leather has a feminine feel but also has a strong toughness to the material. All of the products are manufactured in Hong Kong, which is a part of Chan’s goal to change the mind-set of consumers that high-quality clothes are made only in Europe—Hong Kong can be a resource for that, and Anveglosa is a perfect example.

Chan, a 30-year industry veteran, doesn’t follow trends. She has her own aesthetic and focuses on creating individual pieces with serious character. Chan said she’s excited to show at New York Fashion Week because it is one of biggest fashion weeks, so the large scale will be a challenge and she’ll be able to show the collection in a fresh light to new and existing customers.