When we first laid our hands on the brand-new vivo V29, the dreamy and ethereal starry purple piece immediately captured our hearts. These five fresh pairs of eyes shared the same feelings and even felt the urge to convey them through their expertise.
Equipped with the knowledge and skills in fashion design, these UCSI University students crafted nine designs, all based on the vivo V29. It was an impressive feat, watching the budding designers add personal touches to these creations and depict the illuminating phone through their threads and needles.
“When I first saw the vivo V29, what came to my mind was a universe of galaxies,” shared Sam Ooi, a Diploma in Fashion Design sophomore. Despite his floor-grazing gowns involving a generous heaping of crepe chiffon in colours of white, pink, and dark purple, its softness is edged out by an angular neckline—a recurring design element in his other piece. The 20-year-old also added ornaments–embroidered on the bodice–that resemble celestial bodies. Instead of being fully attached to the fabric, they hang loosely: “I wanted my dress to feel more alive. The beadwork trails around as the model moves,” explained Ooi.
Ooi is not the only one who sees a universe in the vivo V29—even fashion student Dharmishta Ramachandran agrees. She thinks holding the phone is like reaching out to a sky full of stars, especially on the back. “I felt empowered and elegant, yet subtly sexy—I wanted the wearer to feel the same way,” Ramachandran enthused. Piecing the beads together, the designer created a neckline that mimicked scattered stars, followed by a long rhinestone-adorned tulle that echoes an aura—both a natural phenomenon and the new Aura Light feature found in the vivo V29.
“The Aura Light is a modern innovation and advancement, but I also think it can be fun,” said Yuki Lee. As the only designer among the five to present a short dress, Lee’s idea of fun can be reflected in her maximalist design. With diamonds clustered around the neckline and folded double bows at the waistline, Lee also added tiered and layered mesh circles to the second half of the dress, mirroring the Aura Light feature. Look closer and you’ll spot an easter egg–Vs for vivo–subtly nestled in her dresses.
Andrew Charles had a similar thought, as he drew inspiration from the V logo and featured V-shaped cuts on the front and back of the dresses. His approach, however, is more minimal with clean silhouettes that echo the shape of the V29. Like his peers, Charles is also mesmerised by the Aura Light and illustrated it with beads sprinkled along the bodice, finished with a pleated tail. “The top features clean, angular cuts that reflect vivo’s on-point technological innovations,” he explained. For his second dress, Charles added drapes that fall delicately from the shoulders to the knees, depicting the wave of light glares that shift from purpled to blues.
“My signature design element is ‘three-dimensional’,” said Valencia Huang, designer of the mermaid dress that flaunts the figure of its wearer—inspired by the curved screen of the V29. “Hard netting was placed in the sleeves to maintain its shape,” shared the Indonesian native. It suggests that the puffed sleeves complement the soft shade of purple, exuding a fairytale-like elegance. Instead of sharply-cut embellishments like diamonds or rhinestones, Huang chooses pearl beads, a ringer to the halo-like shape when the Aura Light diffracts—a gentle yet powerful metaphor for the vivo V29 and its future.
PHOTOGRAPHED BY HERBE YAP
HAIR AND MAKEUP BY ERANTHE LOO
STYLING BY SARAH CHONG
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT ZAC
MODEL RENEE LAU, RIONA LAU
This article was first published in the print edition of Grazia Malaysia October 2023.