Ten young aspiring designers have been shortlisted for a
chance to represent Malaysia and compete in the Grand Finale of AirAsia Runway
Ready Designer Search (AARRDS) 2016 this August in Kuala Lumpur.
After two judging sessions, the top 10
was chosen based on their design creativity and originality, consistency of
their collection, adherence to the Asean theme, practicality and stage presentation.This is the second year-running AirAsia
is involved in the development of fresh talents and empowering youth across the
region, to gain a foothold in the fashion industry.
Aireen Omar, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia
Berhad (AA); Andrew Tan, Founder
of Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week Ready to Wear; Vivy Yusof, Founder of FashionValet; Alia Bastamam, Fashion Designer; and Suzie Adnan, Editor-in-Chief of GLAM Malaysia formed this year’s
judging panel.
A total of 487 online submissions was drawn to
the Asean-wide designer search held at JW Marriott Kuala Lumpur. Similar sessions were held in Singapore and Bangkok to look for young designers to
represent each country.
AA CEO Aireen
Omar said,
“AirAsia has always been devoted in supporting the talents of tomorrow. This year we have expanded our search to 5
Asean countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines
in search of the Top 3 young designers to represent each country. Since the
establishment of AARRDS in 2015, we are impressed with the growing number of
submissions as well as the quality of talents in the Asean region.”
She was also pleased with the increased
number of participation and the aspiring designers’ versatile skills. “Apart
from good fashion designs, we expect the participants to be adept at
presentation, eloquent in their concept rationalisation and ensure their
designs are commercially viable.”
The eventual Top 3 representatives for Malaysia
will stand a chance to walk away as ‘AirAsia’s
Most Promising Young Designer 2016’ at the KL Fashion Week Ready to Wear
2016 runway. Prizes worth at least
RM350,000 includes a confirmed
show segment to showcase his or her full collection at KLFW RTW 2017; mentorship from the KLFW RTW
team; RM25,000 sponsored by
FashionValet to produce a capsule
collection for sale in fashionvalet.com and 150,000 AirAsia BIG Points sponsored
by AirAsia BIG, AirAsia or AirAsia X
flights among other prizes.
AirAsia is also KLFW RTW 2016’s
Preferred Travel Partner and will
be flying in fashion designers throughout the AirAsia Group’s extensive route
network including from India, Indonesia, China, Australia and South Korea to be
featured on the KLFW RTW 2016 runway. Experience KLFW RTW 2016 this August by
flying with AirAsia and earn BIG Points.
Follow AirAsia’s Youtube Channel (youtube.com/user/AirAsia) for webisodes featuring the journey of
all participants for the region-wide AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search 2016,
or follow the hashtag #AirAsiaRunway
