The Full Gamut
5/5/2023 – 19/7/2023
East Wing, 2/F, 822 Lai Chi Kok Road
Opening Hours
Mon – Sun 10:00 – 19:00
Free Admission
Curatorial Statement
Hong Kong has transformed itself from a textile manufacturing hub to a design incubation platform in the global design stage. The fashion industry, in particular, permeates all aspects of other design disciplines. It is not only about creating beautiful garments but also exploring new materials, techniques, concepts, and directions, including sustainable development. The compact and multi-layered nature of Hong Kong provided a unique environment for the city to be a testing ground that nurtured and afforded opportunities for designers of all disciplines to experiment, innovate, and create. This exhibition reflects the city’s cultural and socio-economic changes through the lens of the fashion industry and invites the audience to observe the changing design landscape of fashion trends and impacts.
Fashion is a powerful form of self-expression, and it has always been designed to reflect individuals’ inner identities, beliefs, and representations and connections to their world. Needless to say, clothes are also meant to be worn, felt, and seen, and many consider them as their second skin and how much pleasure people derive from their materiality: the sensual pleasure and the physical experience of wearing them. However, many kinds of fashion pleasure exist beyond garment-making, and now, more than ever, its definition is expanding, and designers are changing the way we think about fashion. This exhibition, titled: The Full Gamut, examines the inter-connectedness across various design disciplines from different perspectives, unveiling an array of relationships between designers from different backgrounds throughout the creation of this expanded definition of fashion.
The possibilities of creative endeavors exposing a collaborative approach between multiple design disciplines are embodied in this exhibition. Projects selected in this exhibition seek to challenge traditional notions of fashion design by showcasing works that are innovative, experimental, and boundary-pushing. From established designers to emerging ones, the exhibition centers around the creative process of fashion design while drawing inputs from other designers, including graphic, textile, product and spatial design, ranging from window displays and commercials to inclusive design and presenting the intangible culture of the local fashion industry, while launching it on the world stage. By bringing together such a diverse group of aspiring artists and designers, individually as well as collectively, the exhibition aims to highlight the many different ways the definition of fashion can be viewed through multiple lenses.
The overall design of the exhibition space will provide an environment conducive not only as a venue for showcasing exhibits using different media (and multi-media) but also as a creative lounge for workshops, meeting of minds and sharing of ideas.
The rich array of over 40 exhibits are arranged in five selected areas of specific design disciplines, namely Fashion and Accessories Design, Environmental and Spatial Design, Product and Display Design, Communication Design, and Social and Inclusive Design.
Also, by following the 6 patterned labels on each of the exhibit, namely Materials, Trend, Design Development, Production, Retail and Re(upcycle), visitors can discover designers’ stories in the fashion industry creative process from conception to the final production.
Finally, visitors are encouraged to explore the numerous inter-connectedness between the exhibits from different disciplines by traversing the five thematic zones, creating their own experience, interpretation and definition of fashion.
Curator
Roger Wu
In 2022, Roger curated the Beyond Territories – Made . Make . Making – Hong Kong Institute of Architects’ Urbanism and Architecture Exhibition for Excellence* to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The exhibition was shown in Hangzhou, Beijing, New York and Hong Kong. Roger was also the Chief Curator of the 2019 Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture (Hong Kong)*. Roger is actively involved in both the Royal Institute of British Architect (RIBA), where he is a member of the Membership Board Committee, and The Hong Kong Institute of Architects (HKIA), where he is a member of the Heritage & Conservation and Planning and Urban Design Committees. Roger is currently lecturing in The University of Hong Kong’s MSc in Conservation and HKU Space’s MA in Art and Cultural Enterprise. Roger has lectured at architectural schools in universities across the UK and taught design studios at the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, as an Adjunct Associate Professor.
Born in Hong Kong and raised in the UK, Roger has worked as an architect for a number of practices in both markets on large-scale master planning, commercial and mixed-use developments ranging from the Mainland, Algeria, the United States, Italy, Russia, Turkey, UK and Hong Kong. With extensive experience leading complex restoration projects in the UK, the Mainland and Hong Kong, Roger has put his knowledge, experience and interest in the regeneration of historic buildings, including Peter Jones, King’s Cross Station and the Royal Military Academy in London. Between 2014 and 2022, Roger was the Executive Director, Project Development of Haw Par Music Foundation Limited (HPMF), a not-for-profit organisation set up to oversee the operations of Haw Par Music – a centre for cross-culture exchange through music, heritage and the arts based in the revitalised Haw Par Mansion in Tai Hang, Hong Kong.
* sponsored by CreateHK
Vivienne Yu
A multidisciplinary creative with a background in architecture, education, and museum exhibit development, Vivienne founded Story Lab, Hong Kong in 2022. She has dedicated her interest to exhibit content development, interpretive planning, and museum planning for the past decade. Before founding Story Lab, Vivienne worked on residential, mixed-use complexes, commercial buildings, and other design projects in New York and Boston. Vivienne has worked on a number of international projects, including exhibition design and museum master planning projects in the United States and China. Apart from her practice, she has served as a guest speaker and reviewer at the City University of Hong Kong, sharing her experience and knowledge about museum architectural planning and design.
Hailing from Hong Kong and growing up in the US, Vivienne graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Architectural Studies, a Master in Education from New York University, and a Master of Liberal Arts in Museum Studies from Harvard University. Since her return to Hong Kong in 2022, she served as a curator and designer for Henderson Land, designing a travelling exhibition hosted by The Hong Kong Institute of Architects to showcase one of their commercial buildings, The Henderson, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. Vivienne is committed to delivering projects that support the transformative potential of cultural institutions and helps raise collective awareness of current and emerging social issues. Her work focuses on educating the public, delivering compelling designs, engaging audiences and promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity in the cultural sector.