Half an hour before the start of last night’s VAWK show, there was a bit of an issue backstage. The designer, and the collection, hadn’t arrived.
Pre-show prep usually takes hours as the team perfects the hair and makeup look, makes final tweaks to the styling, steams the clothes, tapes the shoes and gets everyone in order for their exits. But Sunny Fong, who showed up with the collection at 7:30, and his stylist Tricia Hall have been doing this for seasons and breezed through all that in time to start the show at 8 pm sharp.
Aside from their late arrival, the presentation’s biggest surprise was the addition of a few menswear looks to the lineup including a navy wool coat that got more than a few guys in the audience excited. Women’s pieces focused on a branch print that Fong called “Winter Camo” cut into gowns and an evening coat and sheer panels on half-pleated skirts.
Can you sleep the night before a show?
What is sleep? Usually we are too hyped up and excited to sleep.
What are some of your show day rituals?
I put on these amazing moisturizing eye patches I got from Hong Kong and make sure I do one final go-over of everything before we head to the tents.
Describe the vibe backstage at your show just before the models take the catwalk?
It’s hectic up until the models walk the runway. At that moment, it really feels like the calm before the storm.
What’s the one interview questions you never want to be asked again?
How was your experience on Project Runway? Seriously, it has been four years. I feel like I have accomplished a lot more that journalists can pull from.
Is it easy to wind from the fashion show frenzy?
Yes. It’s very cyclical so we are always wound pretty tight and the show seems very anticlimactic afterwards because we just have to move on to the next project.
