Mercedes-Benz Asia Fashion Award

Mercedes-Benz Asia Fashion Award Regional Finals 2006 Press Conference
Singapore Fashion Festival 2006
Mercedes-Benz Centre
27th March 2006, 2.30pm
Singapore
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Mercedes-Benz once again affirms its passion for design with its fourth annual Mercedes-Benz Asia Fashion Award, better known as MBAFA. With this platform of springboarding aspiring young Asian designers to showcase their talents to the rest of the world, MBAFA celebrates the best in innovation and creativity.

This year, the ten finalists from five countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand will present their ten best looks in a highly-anticipated competition tomorrow at Zouk and the distinguished panel of judges will have an immensely challenging task of picking the winner.

The 10 finalists who will compete on tomorrow will be judged on 10 outfits from their Spring/Summer 2006 collection in any one of the following categories; womenswear, menswear, streetwear and activewear. The designer they pick will be the most original in his creative style, have the greatest potential to sustain innovative design ideas and his collection will have to be the most commercially viable.

The ten finalists will compete for the prestigious title of MBAFA 2006 winner as well as:
US$10,000.00 cash.
The opportunity to showcase his winning collection at the Mercedes-Benz Australia Fashion Week in May 2006.
A fully-sponsored internship with DaimlerChrysler Advanced Design in Yokohama Japan and the opportunity to design for Mercedes-Benz.
An opportunity to attend the Japan Fashion Week and
the MBAFA mentoring programme which calls for each of the judges of the regional final competition to share their expertise and experience in their professional arenas.

The competing finalists are :

  1. Frank Hu – Taiwan
  2. Scott Chu – Malaysia
  3. Aloysius Liew Guo Jian – Singapore
  4. Yudhi Mulyawan - Indonesia
  5. Smisssorn Sutthisung - Thailand
  6. Lin Chin Hung – Taiwan
  7. Syaiful Baharim - Malaysia
  8. Songwut Thongthou - Thailand
  9. Tex Saverio – Indonesia
  10. Keisuke Sekino– Singapore

The international esteemed panel of judges amassed across various design and fashion industries this year include

  • Ashley Isham – London-based Singapore’s wunderkind of fashion,
  • Olivier Boulay - Head of Design at the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Centre of Japan
  • Svida Alisjahbana – Vice President of the Femina Group in Indonesia, the country’s leading publisher specializing in women’s interest publications.
  • Chamnan Pakdeesuk – head designer of Fly Now – the first Thai designer to showcase his collection abroad and gain international recognition.
  • Sharon Khong – General Manager of international labels; Massimo Dutti and Zara in Singapore.

The panel has already gone through pre-judging sessions with each designer giving them opportunities to explain their collection and their inspirations. The final judging will take place tomorrow night at Zouk.

Photos courtesy of Mercedes-Benz. All rights reserve.

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