A model shows one of Nanda Yan Naung's Italian silk designs.

TWO bright young stars in Myanmar’s fashion design world were invited to show their work at the Kuala Lumpur-Asia Fashion Week in late November.

The theme of this year’s fashion week, which started on November 23, was ‘Ready to Wear’.

Hein Sat Kyar and Nanda Yan Naung both said they really enjoyed the trip and the experience, despite having been invited by organisers only one month in advance.

“When we got the invitation, there was only a month to prepare,” said Nanda Yan Naung. “They asked us to make 12 outfits for the show. They said we only needed to make the clothing and they would supply the models, whose body measurements were enclosed in the invitation.”

Nanda Yan Naung, who recently earned an advanced diploma in design at Raffles Design Institute in Malaysia, had displayed his fashions at school to other students and teachers, but this was his first real experience as a designer.

He made women’s clothing using Italian silk for the show.

Although Hein Sat Kyar attended Kuala Lumpur-Asia Fashion Week last year as an observer, this year’s event was also his first experience showing his designs. He used Myanmar-made fabrics to create six outfits for men and six for women.

“I always watch fashion shows on satellite TV, but going to a live international fashion show was a completely different experience,” he said. “The designs are shown in detail for many hours, which helped me gain a lot of knowledge.”
Hein Sat Kyar said fashion designers in Myanmar pay most attention to wedding dresses.

“Myanmar people pay a lot of attention to wedding dresses, but in Malaysia and Japan they are more interested in casual wear,” he said.

Nanda Yan Naung said clothing design in Myanmar is quite old-fashioned, adding that this trend has been created at least in part by consumer demand.
“A country’s fashion trends depend at least in part in the buyers,” he said.

“Many consumers in Myanmar have conservative tastes, so fashion trends here seem to be a little behind those in other countries.”