By Manik Mehta
NEW YORK, Sept 20 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia’s fashion icon Zang Toi celebrated Tuesday night his 30th business anniversary with a Malaysia-themed fashion before New York’s glitterati, including fashionistas, business people, socialites, political figures and the media.
Zang Toi being presented the mandatory cake to celebrate the 30th “birthday” of his fashion business.
Among the high-profiled guests, who attracted considerable media and social attention, was President Trump’s eldest son, Donald John Trump Jr., who sat through the show and, later, also attended the soiree party which Zang Toi hosted after the fashion show.
The high-profiled guests spontaneously stood up in respect of the Malaysian national anthem which was played before the start of the fashion show.
The fashion show was accompanied by the singing by Saloma, Malaysia’s vocal sensation, which seemed to lighten the mood and produced smiles on the faces of some Malaysian guests personally invited by Zang Toi.
Toi told Bernamaa that the Malaysia theme – under the slogan “Spring 2020, Home Sweet Home” – was a “tribute to my beloved country Malaysia”.
“The collection I am presenting today includes my interpretation of the traditional Malaysian textiles such as batik, sarong and songket Malayu. The pretty pastel palette was inspired by Her Royal Highness Tengku Anis’ love of all shades of pastel,” he said.
Toi’s creations, which relied heavily on Malaysian materials and cultural inspirations, were presented by models representing different ethnicities – from blonde through brunette to Asian-looking.
The show opened with a model strutting along the fashion runway, sporting a black and white batik print, a silk gazar cloud strapless back-wrapped mini dress. “It’s an eye-catching creation … it is a striking mix of ethnic material with a touch of Western design,” Sarah Atherton, a local fashion critic who was at the show told Bernama.
This was followed by a model sporting a black-white floral sarong print crepe strapless-knotted tunic with white cotton denim front zip skinny pant. Another impressive creation was an ivory moire full-skirt shirt dress with horsehair border complemented by a crystal crown brooch. Indeed, it was one stunning creation after another using Malaysian motifs and materials.
But interspersed between the female creations, there was also a sprinkling of creations for men presented by a blond male model; one of the items presented by him was a black and white batik print silk gazar cloud signature shirt matched by men’s white cotton denim skinny jeans.
Of the 31 creations presented, 13 were predominantly of pastel colour background. The grand finale of the show presented an eye-catching princess ball-gown with silver hand-beaded royal songket.
As the show came to an end, the audience stood up and showered silver and gold-coloured confetti on Toi and one of his top models as he emerged for the customary closing walk to wrap up the event. Zang Toi was mobbed by fans and cameramen who followed his every footstep.
One of the guests at the show and his admirer is the high-profiled singer Patti LaBelle, the two-time Grammy winner also known as the “Godmother of Soul”.
–NNN-BERNAMA
