When the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) brought its Centrestage event back to life in 2023, the design team was ready to infuse it with a breath of fresh air. The annual fashion showcase, which hosts more than 7,800 buyers and more than 7,000 visitors, is Asia's premier fashion event, with hundreds of designers and high-energy fashion shows. The HKTDC creative team's goal was to cultivate a visual and sensory spectacle rivaling the world's most beautiful gardens.
The team pruned the venue into two sections — a dedicated 75,000-square-foot exhibition hall and a 600-person-capacity main stage fashion show area. The exhibit hall featured more than 200 designers in vibrant booths. Hyper-saturated LED displays enriched the environment with stunning images of florals. “We used the blooming flower as the concept of renewal, new beginnings, and the flourishing of the fashion industry potential,” explained HKTDC designer Rachel Tsang.

The space included a smattering of displays that added vibrancy and kinetic energy to the atmosphere. Ceiling-mounted floral and lighting installations floated over candy-colored photo opportunities. Coves for mini midday fashion parades were carved into high-visibility areas on the show floor, washed with watery blue light and conference branding. A jaw-dropping, two-story LED string waterfall became one of the backdrops to the most ambitious element of the team's 2023 approach. HKTDC pollinated the Centrestage event with a cast of AI models who populated the Main Stage fashion show, strutting their digital stuff over the light ropes of the waterfall, and striding through a meadow of LED screens. This digital augmentation of live models added layers of vitality and innovation, bringing the fashion narrative to life. E