In 2014, Afa felt it was time to realise the dream of setting up her own label. “I could have just launched the label without having a shop, but it would have been difficult to control costs that way since my production orders would be extremely small. So I took the plunge and opened an ‘upstairs’ shop inside a building in Causeway Bay that doubled as my workshop.”
Starting out as a one-woman team offering just over a dozen styles per season, BERTH gradually expanded as Afa gathered a loyal following for her vintage inspired designs.
“While studying fashion history in college, I was drawn to the 20s because there was this total paradigm change. The waistline got lower or was non-existent, and short bobs and a flat chest were in fashion; it was a time when feminism was gaining ground. Add the geometric lines of Art Deco to the mix and I was totally in love with this era,” she explained.
