Winner of the Design Excellence Award, Daphne Cheng, discusses the design concept with Ms Leung Sin Hing.
Quinn Cheng and Ms Tang Tsui Hing at the first fitting session.
Next In Elderly Fashion Show at Ocean Park Hong Kong on 3 January 2022.
As the leading fashion school in Hong Kong, ITC endeavours to not only contribute to the fashion industry and academia, but also the community and people in need. Between October 2021 and January 2022, ITC cooperated with the Kowloon City Baptist Church Neighbourhood Elderly Centre, Sustainable Fashion Apparel Association Limited (SFAA), Hong Kong Social Enterprise Incubation Centre Limited (HKSEIC), fellow institutes, and industry partners to organise the ‘Next in Elderly Fashion Show Competition’.
The project aims to create fashionable outfits for senior citizens whose children have migrated overseas, and express how much the youths care about the elderly. Led by Dr Haze Ng and Ms Jackie Leung, eight ITC students participated in the project and created 16 tailor-made outfits. The participating students are:
- Cheng Manqi, Daphne
- Cheng Chau Hung, Quinn
- Choi Lok Yi, Joey
- Kuo Chit, Marcus
- Ma Hoi Yan, Phyllis
- Tang Chung Yau, Yoyo
- Wong Lai Ching, Ding
- Yu Hiu Tung, Harriet
Throughout the process, the students adopted an empathic co-design approach and put into practice classroom learnings to develop outfits together with the beneficiaries and industry collaborators. The students skillfully applied advanced laser engraving technology and tailoring techniques acquired from a summer course in 2021 on cheongsam making, and created unique fashion outfits with a high degree of practicability.
During the project process, the students showed their attentiveness and youthful perspectives while the elderly shared their life experiences and stories. The communication between the two different generations touched both parties and created a meaningful design experience filled with warmth.
All 30 outfits created from the project were presented by the elderly and students in the ‘Next In Elderly Fashion Show’, which was held on 3 January 2022 at Ocean Park Hong Kong. The fashion show was livestreamed to the overseas families of the elderly participants as a form of an online reunion and celebration of the lunar new year. Our Year 3 student Daphne Cheng was awarded the Design Excellence Award and secured an internship sponsored by Stella Blu Textile Limited.
The RTHK Radio 5 Life is Love interview of the project available at https://www.rthk.hk/radio/radio5/programme/lifeislove/episode/793364
