After a year of evening wear fit more for lackadaisical lounging, fashion designer and PHVLO founder Johanna Ho had the idea for a design piece that would bring together the pandemic’s two crown jewels: clothes made for comfort and hotels designed to curb our halted wanderlust.
For two consecutive weekends, the Hong Kong creative will partner with Rosewood Hotels to showcase a new collection that upcycles the hotel’s retired linens in an immersive workshop that hones the concept of slow fashion, its augmented future, and the perennial intricacies of craft.
Kwai Bun, Johanna Ho and Ha Yat Sing (left to right) at Rosewood Hotels
Photo: courtesy of Rosewood Hotels
Repurposed clothing has been touted as fashion’s solution to its pointing sustainability problem. It’s also been lockdown’s greatest achievement – getting people excited about handmade clothes again.
Taking Rosewood’s out-of-service bedding – linen made from a simple weave for a luxurious sleep – Ho has fashioned a set of one-of-kind design pieces, mentoring fashion students from Hong Kong Design Institute to create them. Washed with coffee grounds from the creative collective PHVLO’s coffee shop, these are pieces with a thread count upwards of a hundred, making it likely more comfortable than your everyday clothing.
The workshop experience is combined with the help of Quantum Matrix and NuDD (Nude, Drink & Draw). Quantum Matrix’s meticulously researched virtual fitting technology pulls the pieces on you to be tried in the digital space. It’s the sort of technology you expect in sci-fiction, rather than real life but Quantum Matrix’s 10 years of R&D has made it so that you can imagine the texture of the garment as you ‘try’ it on, customising the fit to your size, height, and weight.
An artist from NuDD captures a model in live-drawing
Photo: courtesy of Rosewood Hotels
Equally important was that this collection reserve a moment for craft, which is where NuDD comes in. Following the virtual fitting, is also a live-drawing class with models wearing the collection. As is in the name, NuDD’s events promise to be lively and inspiring much like the very idea of upcycling.
For Ho, this project only cements her stature as one of the city’s leading eco-designers. It also is a continuation of her passion to harness local craft and community. As Rosewood’s inaugural PlaceMaker, the designer is bringing some much-needed innovation to kick the city back into motion.
The Art of Sustainability with Johanna Ho will take place at the Rosewood Hotels on 26 Jun (Sat), 27 Jun (Sun) and 3 Jul (Sat), 4 Jul (Sun). Details are as follows here.
Editor
Rachelle MaCredit
Lead image: Rosewood Hotels
