A 27-year-old Galway fashion designer made it to the final 10 in the new TV3 reality show Style Wars where contestants battle it out for a dream job in fashion.
Zoe Wong, whose parents are originally from Hong Kong but who moved here in the 1980s, was voted out of the show, however, on Tuesday night.
A graduate of Parsons New School for Design in New York, she says she inherited her strong work ethic from them. “They know what it means to work hard to accomplish everything from nothing”. She does not fear hard work and speaks about how her “fingers bled” while studying and working in New York.
She has worked as a fashion design intern, creating contemporary womenswear and menswear lines, as creative director for Libra Leather, a design consultant for My Suit, a shoe designer for both Pour La Victoire and Kelsi Dagger, and has also worked as an assistant to Irish stylist Cathy O’Connor. She is currently setting up her own business designing eyewear accessories.
Ten contestants compete against each other in fashion-based challenges which result in weekly eliminations in Style Wars. Each week the judges decide who makes the cut and who will fall apart at the seams.
The judging panel comprises leading names in style and fashion and include international Irish fashion designer Peter O’Brien, fashion business woman and former model Caprice Bourret, and Guru of the High Street and Aurora chairman Ian Galvin. Guiding the candidates through the rigorous tasks is mentor Angela Woods, whose career spanning three decades has jumpstarted the careers of many Irish designers since joining NCAD in 1996. The contestants come from all over Ireland and the UK.
