One has to marvel at how life has changed with the increasing importance, availability and omnipresence of the internet. There are few, if any, areas of creativity that cannot be further examined or explored and that have not benefited from its unimaginable reach. For those of us in fashion, it has unquestionably expanded our horizons, broadened our purview of fashion and exponentially inflated our visual vocabulary to include designers from all over the world as well as those we already know who practice and continue to hone the art and craft of fashion.
 |
| click image to enlarge |
 |
| click image to enlarge |
I had the pleasure of spotlighting Michael Cinco and his career three years ago. At that time he might have just been categorized as a designer from the Middle East and yet just a scant few years later Michael Cinco is recognized as a designer with an international presence. Having shown his first couture collection for Fall 2016 in Paris, he has definitely crossed the threshold to an international audience. His incredibly opulent and statement making clothes are now available to just about anyone who can “afford the price of admission” so to speak.
 |
| click image to enlarge |
 |
| click image to enlarge |
The incredible thing about fashion is that we in the USA love it, give it ample press and even follow it almost obsessively; yet we are, as a country, very unwilling to recognize it as an art form that should be nurtured by government and independent financial resources. To wit, enter the Asian Couture Federation ( www.asiancouturefederation.com ), who made Mr. Cinco’s Parisian debut possible and turned this designer’s dream to reality. The mission of the Asian Couture Federation (ACF) is to inspire, support, and promote the highest levels of Asian fashion design and artistry and offer that to Asian markets as well as to the global marketplace. The Federation approached Mr. Cinco and asked him to showcase 2 collections; one was to be couture and the other to be a newly conceived luxe ready to wear collection for COUTURISSIMO which is the retail arm of the ACF.
 |
| click image to enlarge |
 |
| click image to enlarge |
With the help and guidance of the ACF, Michael Cinco realized a dream that almost every designer from anywhere harbors and that is to show in Paris … let alone to show a Couture collection seen round the world! The images presented here are a combination of both couture and ready to wear but can you decipher the difference as there is incredible beauty and artistry within every piece. Cinco is a testament to the art and craft of fashion as well as a gifted designer with his own vision.
 |
| click image to enlarge |
 |
| click image to enlarge |
You will see his oeuvre and hear from him via an excerpted past Q & A interview I’d done with him, so feast your eyes and read about one of those that I classify as “ a designer that designs.”
 |
| click image to enlarge |
 |
| click image to enlarge |
What’s your advice to the “newcomer?”
Dream great dreams. Believe in yourself. Believe that anything in this world is possible.
 |
| click image to enlarge |
What if any, book are you reading now or last read?
I read the book of DIOR a hundred times.
Who or what is your inspiration/style icon?
I love watching classic Hollywood films when I was a kid. I love Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, and Bette Davis. I first listened to opera music of Maria Callas when I was 12 years old and at that time I was inspired and I knew I will be a fashion designer
 |
| click image to enlarge |
If you won a $200,000,000 power ball (lottery), what is the first thing you would buy or do?
I'll open a couture house in Avenue Montaigne in Paris right across the atelier of Christian Dior. And I’ll buy taste and class and give them to women who don't have any...hahaha...
 |
| click image to enlarge |
Whose opinion do you value most?
I always ask for opinions from others. But I always follow my instincts.
http://www.michaelcinco.com
