The Brave New World of Suzy Wong

IT may be one of the most elegant costumes but few women are game enough to wear a cheongsam for fear of being mistaken as nightclub hostess or waitress. 'It's the tarnished Suzy Wong image but people here also tend to shy away from anything local,' says Hong Kong designer Barney Cheng.

Designers in the territory tend to take their fashion direction from the West rather than the East but strangely enough, many international designers like Christian Lacroix, Kenzo and Donna Karan are incorporating Chinese collars and cheongsams into theircollections. 'The cheongsam is so flattering.

It fits, it lifts and it hugs the figure,' says Cheng, who is one Hong Kong designer improvising on traditional Chinese shapes with great success. Last year for the Young Designers' competition his designs won him the Best Design Award in the woven category. Elements are taken not just from the cheongsam, but also from traditional Chinese costumes such as the kwah, the intricately embroideried A-line jacket and long skirt still worn today by brides and mother-in-laws at formal Chinese weddings, and the to tau, a halter-style Chinese undergarment worn in the old days.

Robes and stoles from Chinese opera also feature in his designs. The slits, silhouette and shape of his garments follow that of the cheongsam but Cheng has dispensed with the stiff collars, sometimes substituting a turtle neck. Jackets are cut like the Chinese kwah, with stiff A-line shapes and wide sleeves which are embroidered and beaded at the cuffs.

He also uses embroidered perfume pouches, which women in the Manchu dynasty used to tuck in their sleeves, but Cheng uses them as purse pouches strung on a belt. He feels embroidery is the most important element of Chinese design.

'It's the most striking thing in Chinese costumes so I've used lots of beads, sequins and handiwork in my designs.' Relatively new to the local fashion scene Cheng, who grew up in Canada, already has the sort of clientele that would make even established designers here turn green with envy. One of his clients is Christine Liao, for whom he has designed some spectacularly grand evening dresses, with Chinese-inspired details.

'She is a very elegant and graceful lady so I aimed at simple lines, with an emphasis on special fabrics and embroidery. She is also very vivacious so I chose strong colours to suit her personality,' says Cheng. He made her an outfit for her son's wedding, in which he combined elements of old and new.