The AirAsia Runway Ready Designer Search (AARRDS) goes regional this year with the competition expanded to include Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, apart from Malaysia to provide a platform for young aspiring designers from around the region to showcase their talents and help catapult them into the fashion industry.

This designer search, which is being held for the second time is in collaboration with the Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week Ready To Wear (KLFW RTW) team and was launched by Ms Aireen Omar, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia Berhad in Kuala Lumpur yesterday together with Mr Andrew Tan, Founder of KLFW RTW.

Audition rounds will be held in Jakarta (16 April), Manila (23 April), Kuala Lumpur (30 April), Singapore (7 May) and Bangkok (14 May) to discover local talents from each regional city, and the Top 3 from the respective cities will represent their country during the Grand Finale in August on the prestigious KLFW RTW 2016 runway.

Both Aireen Omar and Andrew Tan will be part of the panel of judges for this year’s AARRDS 2016, with Vivy Yusof, owner of renowned fashion e-commerce site FashionValet.com, Alia Bastamam, top fashion designer and Suzie Adnan, Editor-in-Chief of GLAM magazine joining the panel of the Malaysian auditions.

This designer search is open to local or international students, 28 years of age or below, and currently studying or have graduated from fashion design schools in any of the five countries included in this search. Three (3) women’s ready-to-wear sketches inspired by Asean destinations are to be submitted with the complete registration form available at klfashionweek.com. Submission deadline is by 12 April 2016.

Throughout the audition rounds in each country, potential young designers will have to present their vision and sketches of Asean-inspired designs to the panel of judges in each city. The Top 3 finalists chosen from each country will have their collection featured at the KLFW RTW 2016 runway this August 2016 and compete for a chance to be AirAsia’s Most Promising Designer 2016.

Prizes worth at least RM350,000 await the winner of this competition including a confirmed show segment to showcase his or her full collection at KLFW RTW 2017, mentorship from the KLFW RTW team; RM25,000 sponsored by FashionValet to produce a capsule collection and sold on fashionvalet.com, 150,000 AirAsia BIG Points, AirAsia or AirAsia X flights, as well as many other prizes which will be announced soon.