Winners of Audi Star Creation 2012 - Roderic Wong, Ko Youngji and Soravit Kaewkamon - launch their maiden collections, which are also showcased to buyers at BLUEPRINT tradeshow 2013.

SINGAPORE, 17 May 2013 - The three 2012 winners of region-wide fashion design competition, Audi Star Creation, took to the Audi Fashion Festival (AFF) runway at the Tent@Marina Promenade with their maiden capsule collections today.

Roderic Wong, 28 (China), Ko Youngji, 33 (Korea) and Soravit Kaewkamon, 24 (Thailand) developed their collections under the mentorship of Douglas and Odile Benjamin of leading fashion retailer F J Benjamin during a one-year internship with the company, which was part of their prize. They each also won S$10,000.

Wong, who also won the Audi Young Designer Award last year with his hand-spun white fabric, presented Inspiration. Like his competition collection last year, it also featured material manipulation but in black, violet and navy.

The capsule collection featured more intricate details and used thicker and heavier fabrics such as wool and pashmina to complement lighter, more elegant fabrics.

Describing the collection, mentor Odile Benjamin said Wong’s tailoring was “superb”, adding: “The collection is sober but impeccably well designed and executed. Some of his outerwear pieces could sit alongside designer labels.”

Thailand’s Kaewkamon wowed the audience with the women’s wear extension of her winning competition collection, Love and Friendship. Beauty of Hornbill featured defined cuts and strong structure on woven fabric and leather, but with bolder digital prints, more intricate laser cut details and shapes that were more feminine.

“Soravit’s strength lies in prints and textural treatment. This collection builds on her last one, and is bolder, with more experimental techniques and confident execution. It rounds off her inaugural collection well,” said Ms Benjamin.

South Korea’s Ko put forward Doors, which shared its source of inspiration with her 2012 competition collection Li Jin – both were a reflection of the time she spent in France while studying at the l’Ecole Superieure des Arts et techniques de la Mode (ESMOD).

Using primarily cream, yellow, violet and pink, she incorporated the beauty and mystery of Parisian doors into her capsule collection. 

“Youngji has a great eye for colour and made some bold choices for her collection which served her well. She used some beautiful draping techniques and well thought through print placements. She shows great promise as a contemporary designer,” Ms Benjamin said after the show.

All three are also currently showcasing their collections to local and international buyers at the tradeshow platform of the Asia Fashion Exchange (AFX), BLUEPRINT, which is taking place at The Pit Building on May 16 and 17. Wong and Kaewkamon will also be taking part in BLUEPRINT Emporium.