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In his Yiuniverse: Kev Yiu on building his personal brand and fulfilling his fashion design destiny

<div style="width: 640px;" class="wp-video">
<video class="wp-video-shortcode" id="video-47882-1" width="640" height="360" autoplay="1" preload="metadata" controls="controls"><source type="video/mp4" src="https://www.igafencu.com/video/1908/1908_GMHK_Interview_BonitaCheung.mp4?_=1" /><a href="https://www.igafencu.com/video/1908/1908_GMHK_Interview_BonitaCheung.mp4">https://www.igafencu.com/video/1908/1908_GMHK_Interview_BonitaCheung.mp4</a></video></div>

In 1998 you launched Tassels, your first&nbsp;fashion label. Four years later, the Bonita Cheung range&nbsp;made its debut, followed by Ni-Chi in 2009. Can you tell&nbsp;us a little about the genesis of each line?
After graduating, I didn’t jump straight into the fashion&nbsp;industry. Instead, I worked in the luxury jewellery sector,&nbsp;focussing on the marketing and advertising side. By 1998,&nbsp;though, I’d realised that fashion was where I really wanted to&nbsp;be and that I should really make the move before it was too&nbsp;late. Soon after, I opened my own workshop in Central and&nbsp;started creating bespoke items, evening and wedding pieces&nbsp;under the Tassels brand.
After a few years spent establishing Tassels and building up&nbsp;my clientele, I felt it was time to branch out under my own name.&nbsp;The result was the Bonita Cheung collection, which was picked&nbsp;up by Lane Crawford as part of its ready-made couture offering.&nbsp;Then, after I’d been working with Reina Chau [one of Hong&nbsp;Kong’s most stylish socialites and a leading patron of the arts] for&nbsp;several years, we both realised we shared a very similar approach&nbsp;to fashion and matching beliefs in the kind of styles we wanted to&nbsp;create. This led us to collaborate on our own ready-to-wear line&nbsp;– Ni-Chi. The company name was actually a combination of our&nbsp;daughters’ names – Nicole on my side and Chiara on hers.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-47888" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B.jpg" alt="bonita cheung" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/700x466-copyPeople2_B-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
When you are designing outfits, how do you visualise&nbsp;the women who will ultimately wear them?
I always imagine that my pieces appeal to women who are&nbsp;not easily influenced by the trends followed by others, while&nbsp;also being confident and fun to be around. Ultimately, my&nbsp;clothes are made for the kind of woman who isn’t afraid to try&nbsp;something new and who relishes every new adventure.
How would you describe your own approach&nbsp;to fashion design?
For me, it’s all about creating something that will&nbsp;withstand the test of time and be marked as a&nbsp;classic – not in the sense that it’s in any way old fashioned,&nbsp;but more that it has an enduring appeal.&nbsp;To my mind, you should be able to dust something&nbsp;off a few seasons after you bought it and find that&nbsp;you still want to wear it, largely because it’s both&nbsp;memorable and unique.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-47885" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_E.jpg" alt="bonita cheung" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_E.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_E-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_E-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_E-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_E-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
You’ve long been associated with the Hong&nbsp;Kong Fashion Designers’ Association…
I was initially approached to be one of the executive&nbsp;members. Later, when the chairman found I had&nbsp;a background in marketing, I was asked to focus&nbsp;more on that side of their activities. This led to me&nbsp;creating events that really showcased the work of&nbsp;the city’s fashion designers.
It was around that time that you set out&nbsp;to break records in association with the&nbsp;Danish Fashion Institute…
All that actually began with a conversation with Eva&nbsp;Kruse, the CEO of the Danish Fashion Institute (now&nbsp;the Global Fashion Agenda). Some years earlier, they&nbsp;held a very successful event – The World’s Greatest&nbsp;Catwalk – which had featured the longest runway&nbsp;ever seen at a fashion event. We decided to try and&nbsp;break that record, so we then had to find somewhere&nbsp;in Hong Kong that could accommodate the mammoth&nbsp;catwalk we had in mind. In the end, a 3.2km runway&nbsp;was created along the Victoria Harbour waterfront in&nbsp;Tsim Sha Tsui. Some 340 models took part and it took&nbsp;each of them 45 minutes to walk the full length of the&nbsp;catwalk, which saw us establish a new world record.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-47883" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_C.jpg" alt="" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_C.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_C-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_C-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_C-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_C-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Last year, you were the Project Curator&nbsp;for Juxtaposed Fashion X Music, a major&nbsp;event in the city, which showcased over 150&nbsp;different outfits from 75 local designers.&nbsp;What made you think the city’s fashion&nbsp;community needed to up its visibility?
Well, I think every city needs its own distinct&nbsp;character and fashion is a huge part of Hong Kong’s&nbsp;identity, not least because people here just love to&nbsp;style it up. While we are universally recognised as&nbsp;a shopper’s paradise, our local brands are largely&nbsp;under-exposed. On top of that, it’s far from easy for&nbsp;local designers to survive against all the international&nbsp;competition and the ever-rising rents. Having&nbsp;experienced all that for myself, I really wanted&nbsp;to help the up-and-coming generation of&nbsp;designers to get the kind of exposure and&nbsp;create the kind of noise necessary to overcome&nbsp;these very real challenges.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-47884" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_D.jpg" alt="" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_D.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_D-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_D-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_D-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/466x700-People2_D-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Where do you stand on the much debated&nbsp;diversity issues the fashion&nbsp;industry has had to contend with?
Well , we definitely need a greater&nbsp;commitment to diversity. To be brutally&nbsp;honest, 99 percent of models are still all&nbsp;drawn from the same demographic, which&nbsp;is a great shame. It’s really only when you&nbsp;have a more widely representative selection&nbsp;of models that you can truly showcase every&nbsp;design possibility. I want women – whether&nbsp;they are 155cm tall or 185cm, whether they&nbsp;weigh 100 pounds or 150 pounds – to know&nbsp;that they can look good in my designs. It also&nbsp;gives fashion an added element of reality –&nbsp;clothes aren’t meant to be costumes; they are&nbsp;meant to be worn by real people.
Thank you.

Interview by: <a href="mailto:bailey@itotalmedia.com">Bailey Atkinson </a> 
 Photos: Jack Law 
 Art Direction: San Wong 
 Venue: <a href="https://www.sicis.com/en_gb/">SICIS Hong Kong </a> 
 Make-up: Margaret Wong 
 Wardrobe: Bonita Cheung 
For the full article, please find the latest issue of Gafencu’s print magazine or the PDF version on the Gafencu app. Download the app from the Google&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gafencu.android&amp;hl=en">Play Store</a>&nbsp;or Apple&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gafencu/id541555130?mt=8">App Store</a>.

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In his Yiuniverse: Kev Yiu on building his personal brand and fulfilling his fashion design destiny

La Styla Bonita: Bonita Cheung, one of Hong Kong’s foremost fashion impresarios, now has designs on the future…