Guest Lecture - Victor Tong & Pacino Wan 8th May

On Thursday the 8^th May I attended a lecture in the Sir James Matthews building of Southampton Solent University. The guest speakers that presented their lecture were Victor Tong and Pacino Wan. Victor Tong presented his lecture first which was ‘Chinese Opera Mask Art and Chinese Tradition’. Victor talked about the meaning of the colours and patterns used in Chinese masks. Pacino Wan discussed the history of his fashion line and how he started as a designer.

Victor Tong's lecture was well put together, he had a lot of knowledge on the subject and was confident with what he was saying. The masks are very stunning visually and are unlike anything I have seen before. I had no idea they had so much meaning behind them so it was really interesting to find out that certain characters in Chinese Opera would have different colours and patterns on their masks and what they mean. He wrapped up the lecture by showing us current advertising campaigns that have taken inspiration from the traditional Chinese Opera Masks. 

Pacino Wan told us about how he started from the bottom of the fashion industry and worked hard to eventually have his own fashion line. He also showed us a video of his line in action on the runway which was quite different to the fashion shows you see here in the UK. There was no raised catwalk it was on the floor which was actually nice to see the models being able to connect more with the audience as they were on the same level. The designs were very patterned and colourful, very different to our type of fashion. 

Overall it was a really interesting lecture and i learned a lot from it that I'm sure I can take inspiration from in the future.