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2025.04.23

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Top creatives Declan Chan and Tianwei Zhang were recently at the Royal College of Art in London to introduce the YDC and share their advice on breaking into the industry.

In a bid to boost submissions and raise awareness of the Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers’ Contest (YDC), the YDC 2025 school talks are reaching out to emerging Hong Kong talent globally to inform students of the competition’s extensive range of benefits and offer expert insights on how to become a successful designer.

The contest, considered by many a rite of passage for local designers, is currently visiting fashion capitals including New York, Paris, Milan and London to enlist Hong Kong creatives studying overseas. As in previous years, the champion and winner of the Excellence Award will both secure cash prizes and an overseas study trip, while all finalists will be advised by a panel of expert judges. Big names from the world of fashion, including Mihara Yasuhiro, Martine Rose, Han Chong, Hiromichi Ochiai, Andreas Kronthaler and Masayuki Ino, have all previously acted as YDC panellists.

The school talks kicked off this January, with the first stop being Milan’s Istituto Marangoni Milano last month. This February, in a talk titled ‘Innovation Visions in Fashion’ YDC former Judge, Art Director and Creative Consultant Declan Chan shared his knowledge of the industry at the Royal College of Art (RCA), as did Tianwei Zhang, the London/China Market Editor at WWD. FASHIONALLY was in attendance for the talk alongside students from Fashion and Textiles and the Footwear, Accessories, Millinery and Eyewear course.

Zhang opened proceedings by saying he’d just returned from Berlin Fashion Week. The fashion journalist said he was excited by the smaller fashion shows such as those in Berlin, Copenhagen and Shanghai, and felt they’re becoming more relevant. Chan agreed. “The main fashion cities are very saturated and there’s so much competition.”

After introducing the YDC contest to RCA students, the two opened up the floor to questions, with the first being how to attract customers. Zhang advised students to be aware of their cash flow and not spend it all on one show. He also advocated embracing cross pollination and being open to working with people from non-fashion industries, such as asking a food influencer to wear their designs. “Just fashion has a very limited reach, and extending that reach is your priority.” he elaborated.

Both stressed the importance of building industry connections, and also proposed working with a brand to get some industry knowledge before going solo. Breaking into the fashion industry takes time and you need to pay your dues, said Chan, who added that he’d worked a desk job for seven years at Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford department store prior to creative consultancy work.

Zhang was keen to emphasise that doing a graduate collection and working for a brand is very different. “You need to create products, pieces that people will want to wear.” He elaborated that students should set themselves deadlines of when they would like to achieve certain things. “Any goals shouldn’t be too big, or vague, but more realistic,” he added.

Another student asked the pair if they are seeing sustainability in action in the fashion industry. They highlighted that Copenhagen Fashion Week was among the most eco-friendly shows and added that most fashion competitions want to see that entrants have addressed sustainability in their collections. Chan elaborated, “sustainability may come from the bottom line, with brands including Prada and Chanel trying to use deadstock. Brands can recycle polyester very cheaply, for instance, and that’s how they stay competitive.”

Chan noted that other luxury fashion brands were advocates of upcycling, such as Miu Miu, which launched a collection of one-of-a-kind pieces made from vintage garments from the 1930s to the 1980s reworked with Miu Miu’s signature embellishments, collars, and embroidery.

Another student was keen to know how to differentiate himself from business students, to which Zhang advised becoming a stylist or photographer. “You’ll learn how to manage and execute projects, which is useful if you end up running your own agency.”

Someone else asked for advice on posting and sharing their work, to which Chan advised contacting stylist friends and posting online. Zhang felt that TikTok is more important than Instagram. “Alexander McQueen was a great storyteller, and TikTok enables you to document making your collection, so talent scouts know your thinking process.”

In conversation with FASHIONALLY after the talk, Chan, who has been a YDC judge for the past two years and helps promote the competition overseas, shared that he felt that the level of YDC contestants in recent years was high. He was additionally impressed with how the designs were promoted.

He believes designers should enter the competition as students or graduates. “I just did a talk with students where I said it wasn’t just about the win, it’s about taking part. I don’t think winning has to be the goal… it’s also about familiarising yourself with the process and an opportunity to meet new friends and network with people.” Even if you don’t win, you could still form a connection with one of the judges,” he added.

Zhang, who started a fashion blogging aged 15 and studied Fashion Journalism at Central Saint Martin’s, has been working with WWD for the past six years. He admits it can be difficult for students to make their voice heard in this very competitive industry. The journalist reiterated the point he made during the talk that students need to think more commercially. “There are too many options but not enough good products, that’s the feedback I get from buyers. Young brands have a lot of ideas but the things they sell are not merchandisable. Designers need to be more mindful about the market reality and tailor their vision to a category that has existing demand.”

Zhang says the YDC competition is crucial to young designers starting out, as the top cash prize of HK$60,000 could go towards costs such as renting studio space or manufacturing costs. “What’s good for Hong Kong designers is that they have a Chinese market they can tap into. But they can also be global thanks to their English proficiency and vision, which will help them do business anywhere in the world.” The connection with China and Asia cannot be underestimated for Hong Kong designers, he added. “Good access to back-end supply chain connections will help them produce competitively priced products.”

There was a solid cross-section of fashion students attending the YDC talk. One student, Yu Zheng, takes an inclusive approach to design and is keen to create clothing for the disabled community. “For blind people, you need to consider the texture and make the clothes more tactile,” she said.

Another student, Lydia Hsieh, was inspired by the British-Cypriot designer Hussein Chalayan and keen to incorporate comedy and cartoon elements into her works. Also in attendance at the talk was Mu Zhen, who hopes to become an accessories designer and work on fashion set design and styling celebrities. She also expressed her desire to address fashion’s environmental issues.

FASHIONALLY also spoke with RCA student Ruwathi Gajadeera, whose journey so far clearly illustrates how entering fashion contests can be beneficial to young designers. Using fluid silhouettes, immersive textures, and multi-sensory elements in her work, the Sri Lankan-born student was a finalist in the 2024 LVMH Graduate Initiative and a runner up in 2023’s Redress Design Awards, a Hong Kong-based contest with a sustainability focus. She is currently Resident Artist for ⁠2024/25 for the European Marine Board’s EMBracing the Ocean project, an initiative aimed at raising awareness and engaging society on the importance of the ocean for the environment, economy, and human wellbeing.

Entering fashion competitions has been life-changing not just for the exposure but the opportunity, financial support, and personal growth they have provided, said Gajadeera. “I have a long list of awards and recognitions, but more than the titles, these experiences have shaped who I am as a designer. Thanks to scholarships and competition prizes, I’ve accumulated knowledge, travelled, collaborated, and expanded my creative practice in ways I never imagined.”

As Resident Artist for the European Marine Board, Gajadeera has partnered with renowned marine biologist and ocean educator, Dr. Asha de Vos, to reimagine ocean conservation and ocean recovery through the lens of art and design. She is currently preparing to exhibit at the UN Ocean Decade event, where she hopes her work can have a real impact in the environmental advocacy space. "For me, competitions are more than just recognition... they are a gateway to collaborations, conversations, and real-world change."