By Gerrye Wong
Special to AsianWeek
Fashions from the design studios of four Asian Pacific American women will be the focal point of a fashion show luncheon benefit sponsored by the Chi Am Circle Club of Santa Clara County on Nov. 2. Held in support of the nonprofit group’s social service fund, the event is sponsored by the 35-year-old organization of Chinese American women and is expected to draw over 500 attendees.
“Highlighting the unique designs of fellow Asian American women designers is a privilege,” said event co-chair Pearl Lee. Proceeds from the event will go towards Chi Am’s annual scholarship program for high school seniors, their visits to the Santa Clara Sunrise Center of Self-Help for the Elderly and to serving the cultural needs of young people through their Children’s Fair at the Chinese Summer Festival.
Designs by Joanie Char were featured at a Chi Am Circle show over a decade ago, but her fashionable ready-to-wear is still a favorite in the Bay Area. Born in Canton to a family familiar with the garment business in Hong Kong, Char says she knew early on that she wanted to be a fashion designer. At age 15 she went to London to attend fashion design school and won early acclaim for her originality of design.
Designs by Char have been popular all over the world since 1977, when she opened her wholesale business in San Francisco, where she sold to more than 2,000 stores worldwide. After a brief hiatus from the fashion world while raising three children, Char opened her boutique on Sutter Street in San Francisco in 1993. Her future plans include opening additional fashion boutiques in Shanghai and Beijing.
Another featured designer of the Chi Am show will be Mison Kim. Born in Seoul, Korea in 1970, Kim graduated from high school with a concentration on fashion design. After studying design at college in Chicago, Kim went to Paris to study the French method of draping for advanced couture design in 2001. Presently, she makes custom design garments at her couture boutique in downtown Los Gatos, and also designs a ready-to-wear collection through the label “Mison and dfusion.”
Pauline Fong’s “The Collection” boutique is known for her Asian-themed garments and accessories from the world’s leading designers. Fong will be showing some of her latest finds in the “Generations of Chi Am” section of the fashion show, where eight founders and past presidents will be featured with the second and third generations of their families.
The show’s finale will be couture design evening gowns by hot San Francisco designer, Colleen Quen. Quen’s elegant gowns were spotted on many fashionable women leaders at the recent San Francisco Symphony and Opera opening night. Not only popular locally, Quen excitedly told us that her one-of-a-kind, fleur-inspired couture gown was modeled by actress Vivica A. Fox at New York City’s gala celebration for the 100th anniversary of Champagne Perrier-Jouet’s famous Galle-designed flower bottle.
A Bay Area native who can trace her ancestors back to the 1880s, Quen feels her roots keenly and says many of her romantic and eclectic couture fashion designs are rooted in the city’s diversity, landscape, architecture and in particular, its Victorian ambiance.
The fashion show luncheon benefit sponsored by the Chi Am Circle Club of Santa Clara County is on Nov. 2 at the Marriott Hotel Great America in Santa Clara.
For ticket information call co-chair Pearl Lee at 408-268-1964.
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