Guest Lecture - 8th May

Guest Lecture

On May 8th 2014 I attended the guest lecture of Kochini Wong and Pachino Wan at Southampton Solent. The lecture focused on traditional Chinese theatre, colour theory and Paschio Wan's clothing line.

Kochini Wong

Kochini Wong studied at the Hong Kong design institute. He taught us colour theory and he composition of traditional Chinese theatrical make up. Before attending this lecture, I didn't analyse colour when watching films or theatre shows, however no I understand how colour works and what it could possibly mean, I take it into consideration when viewing all shows. Although the colour meanings are for Chinese opera theatre, I believe there are hints in English theatre.

Red - red represents loyalty and righteousness, this reminds me of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in wonderland because of her high power and status.

White - white represents deceitfulness, and is usually worn by soldiers in the army that are of high official.  Whereas to me, white represents purity and freshness and is usually worn by angels.  Characters that have Ying Yang design for their make up know how to run the army, this is where the white make up comes in.

Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation delivered by Kochini Wong as it was really interesting to learn about another cultures meaning of make up.  I feel like I learnt a lot and will incorporate these colour meanings into my next project.

Pachino Wan

Pachino Wan is a Hong Kong designer for the Hong Kong Chinese market.  He started a workshop 4 years ago and is famous for his production base.  He is now so successful he owns many shops in many countries including China, Canada and Australia.  To pitch to potential wholesalers, he made 24 miniature versions of his clothes and tiny mannequins to model them on.  This caught the eye of many retailers and this is where his career began.

His clothing is designed on Hong Kong in the 60’s and is so popular he has orders for 10-12 models at one time.  After watching Pachino Wan’s presentation I feel very inspired.  I feel like I could achieve anything if I put my mind to it, it has helped me focus for my second year at university and I am determined to finish with a first.