Winner’s design a tribute to late model Gia Carangi

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WITH the help of the beautiful Miss Tourism International 2011 contestants, fashion designers vied to emerge champion at a batik fashion and design competition recently.

Dubbed “An Enchanting Batik Evening”, the bevy of ladies sashayed on stage donned in elegant batik wear.

Held at Kompleks Kraf Kuala Lumpur, Hafizi Radzi Woo better known as Fiziwoo came out tops among the 21 other Malaysian talents and brought home RM20,000 in cash and a trophy.

Top honours: Fiziwoo (front row, second right) with his creation worn by Miss Tourism Belarus Anastasiya Kharanava (front row, right) after the prize-giving ceremony. Looking on are (from front row, left) his business partner Izreekai Haffiz, Mohd Kamil and Kamarudin.

Second place went to Adriate Syaminsa while the third place went to Nazreen Idris. Besides trophies, they went home with RM10,000 and RM7,000 respectively.

Fiziwoo said his design was a tribute to a fashion model in the late 70s, Gia Carangi, in memory of the hard times she had to go through being the first supermodel.

“I was inspired to keep it classic and fuse it with my signature look of clean designs, less detailing and a more international appeal.

“I believe in the principle of less is more. The concept of design is high-end ready-to-wear as it is easily commercialised.

“This experimental batik pattern is more free and natural. Its expressive and abstract look is due to the accidental effect from the batik-making technique used, which is a combination of tie and dye, and shibori techniques with wax.

“Good quality garments should not be worn only once and should be adaptable to various occasions and personalised with finishing touches by the wearers.

“I think batik could be the Malaysian fashion trademark. The future is bright for batik as people are more bold and brave to wear block colours and big prints. With the right design, batik could be the next big thing in the fashion world,” he said.

Charming lasses: Miss Tourism International 2011 contestants waiting for the announcement of the batik fashion competition winner.

The event officiated by Information, Communication and Culture Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Kama-rudin Siaraf, also saw the presence of Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail, Kraftangan Malaysia director-general Mohd Kamil Mohd Ali and Miss Tourism International president Datuk Danny Ooi.

The batik fashion and designs were judged in two stages. That evening saw the second round of judging by the panel of five, comprising Prof Sulaiman Ghani, Khoon Hooi, Erra Fazira, Rozita Che Wan and Nurin Marini Ramlan who specifically looked into the wholesome appeal of every piece.

Earlier, a round of judging was done by Sharifah Kirana, Fatimah Datuk Ismail, Bon Zainal and Saleha Ali on the batik creation, fashion, finishing and detailing aspects.

The evening also saw works of art from seven fashion designers from Kraftangan Malaysia, namely Datin Sharifah Kirana, Bill Keith, Von Jolly, Kartini Illias, Jovian Mandagie, Nthiran Krishnan Couture and Rodziah Yusoff.