Asia Fashion Collection (AFC) invites budding designers from across Asia to compete for a chance at their very own New York Fashion Week runway debut. This season, six brands that are the finalists from the AFC Tokyo show are debuting their FW22 collections at AFC’s 9th annual event, presenting their best stages to conclude an arduous journey!

We are presenting three fresh brands from Japan: COCOTONO by Kotono Fukazawa, YUUNA ICHIKAWA by Yuuna Ichikawa and DOKKA vivid by Nodoka Sugaucih and Akiho Ka. Additionally, we have SUNG JU by emerging talent Sung Ju Lee from South Korea. WooLeeX by next-gen designer duo Yu Nung (Jerry) Hsieh and Ming Jo (Cynthia) Hsieh from Taiwan, along with GLENDA GARCIA by now-NY-based Glenda Garcia, originally from Indonesia.

Despite the ongoing challenging times, we are excited to realize our dreams of debuting at the NYFW! It is our hope that you will accompany us on Friday 15th at the Spring Studios, whether in-person or remotely, to enjoy discovering the next burst of Asian designers.

Asia Fashion Collection is an incubation project produced and sponsored by VANTAN and PARCO CO., LTD, in partnership with other Asian affiliates. AFC provides a platform for emerging talent in fashion industry, throughout Asia, to compete for a chance to debut their collections during the NYFW. Six brands, from Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Indonesia, will debut their collections as a part of AFC’s annual runway presentation at NYFW. AFC is passionate about discovering and nurturing new talent, while widening the reach in the fashion industry by fostering the growth of the continent’s most promising up-and-coming designers.

DOKKA vivid wants to create a cycle of happiness with the feeling of LOVE and propose vivid sustainable fashion as a new option for society! This is how the concept of LOVE and CHOICE was born. The brand creates new value for its beloved clothes, developing collection images as a new option for the world. Crossing vivid colors and creating a sustainable environment, DOKKA vivid brings fun and gentle spice to the world, which makes the brand happy and people happy.

T h e s e n s e o f d i s c o m f o r t l u r k i n g i n e v e r y d a y l i f e (i s) f u n - While collecting interesting images on the Internet, Kotono Fukazawa noticed a common denominator: scenes with a sense of déjà vu and familiar scenery are interesting because they are uncomfortable! This was the inspiration for the COCOTONO FW22 collection.

The designer used items and patterns that are already well known and accepted by many people as source material, and added a sense of “uncomfortable feeling, strangeness” that made her laugh unintentionally.

COCOTONO expresses "lol" (laugh of little), where people wearing silly items blend into familiar everyday scenery.

YOUTH IN HEART: Yuuna Ichikawa felt uncomfortable with the concept of "student = youth,” so she wrote a poem that conveys that “youth is not a certain period of your life, but the way you feel in your heart.”

The designer resonated with and was inspired by Samuel Ullman, and eventually embodied his philosophies. Loie Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance, was chosen as the design source, and Patti Smith, known as the Queen of Punk, was chosen as her muse. Regardless of society's stumbling blocks, she breaks new ground, takes certain social situations as insanity, and pushes forward with that insanity and the youth of her spirit.

SAFE HOUSE: Personal connections are drawn between daily objects of self-portrayal. Seemingly random items are observed as instruments of representation and tied together by Sung Ju Lee himself as the mediator. A focal point is on a Korean yellow melon (Chamwoe) that shares the designer’s first name, Sung Ju, which he was often teased for during childhood. (Sung Ju is a region that is the most famous for delicious Chamwo.)

Used in whole or in parts, the collection adapts the unique individual features of each item in a direct and naive manner into the collection. The resulting outcome is simple yet clear and delicate. Lee hopes the clothes are not only solutions to his questions but also a refreshing inspiration for others’ everyday dressing.

Inspired by the elements of sculpture, Sun Ju Lee blends personal interests and experiences together to create a collection. SUNG JU FW22 collection is about some of designer’s childhood memories. A memory of being made fun of for sharing his name with a Korean melon became very symbolic for the designer and was utilized as a direct and pivotal inspiration for the collection. The whole process was a continuity of questions to himself and an opportunity for an honest self-reflection.

WrevoLutionX: Unlike past exagerated colors and floral patterns, WooLeeX’s latest collection features the concept of symphony. Elements including collages, printings, and drawings are used on suits, and add to this season's custom fabrics, creating the brand's very own WooLeeX world.

Jerry and Cynthia Hsieh see music as life with emotions, as a flower telling a story of “Kishōtenketsu” (the structure and development of classic Chinese, Korean and Japanese narratives) at its own pace as a symphony sways between high intensity and steady peacefulness. In this season's custom fabrics, patterns of mountains, forests, and waving plum blossoms are printed on 3D jacquard fabrics. The pattern of jacquards, as music listeners, show different reactions to different emotions; some thrillingly wave their hands, some fall with the deep melody, and others dance joyfully to the tune. This series features lots of formal wear. Suits are known to many for their formality, like a song has its regular rhythm.

WooLeeX, a fashion rebel, uses plaid with formal wear, combining it with different drawings and totem prints. e.g. the flower cycle and listeners mentioned above. As there are no boundaries in music, a symphony can have the qualities of heavy metal, hip- hop, and rock music.

FW22 collection reinterprets the definition of formal wear with breakthrough concepts, using brownish fabric such as the totem of vintage furniture and the pattern above as the brand logo with blossoming flowers (the listeners). Brocade, which is a familiar fabric to the brand, also makes its appearance. The series allows spectators to rethink the subtlety between the ups and downs of emotion and the rules & regulations while experiencing fashion and music. Let the passionate singing and the deep roar interweave a unique narrative, extracting the color of emotion that belongs to every participated individual.

on the job: This capsule collection was inspired by work. As a child Glenda Garcia associated suits with workwear, which funnily enough none of the grownups in her life actually wore to work. She grew aware of the diversity of workwear and how it reflects one’s profession. This capsule takes note of the ‘traditional’ business workwear and other work garments and accessories such as utility belts, aprons, and rags.

The process of designing FW22 capsule collection was heavily focused on wear testing and draping on the body; wearing existing clothing, styling, layering, twisting, distorting on the body to take inspiration for silhouettes and details. Together through the process of designing by wearing and taking the inspiration of the various facets of workwear, this capsule is designed for the modern working woman.

FASHIONADO