Backstage at the Bryant Park Atelier, designer Jeffrey Chow Chi-keung stands calmly taking questions from fashion reporters amid a vortex of activity. A team of stylists buzzes around the models as alteration assistants make last-minute tweaks and publicists with tight, panicky faces rush around like traffic cops. Chow's face betrays no trace of whatever emotions may be rumbling inside him before this autumn Fashion Week show on a wintery, February day in Manhattan. But then, excusing himself for a final check of the clothing, he admits: 'I'm a little bit nervous.'
An hour later, stony-faced models are marching down the runway in Chow's signature highly tailored, feminine garments: pencil skirts and skinny pants with high-waisted jackets, satin dresses, a flurry of flannel, cashmere, lace and ruffles. The spaghetti straps of a silk chiffon top slide down one model's thin shoulders; then, the full house, packed with buyers from top department stores, and fashion luminaries such as American Vogue editor Anna Wintour, applauds warmly as Chow steps onto the stage to take a slight bow.
It is the irrepressible Wintour, one of the most powerful women in fashion, who is Chow's champion. While the very mention of her name may induce fear (read The Devil Wears Prada for confirmation), her support for Hong Kong-born Chow may help catapult him along the way to becoming the next big thing. A year ago, when Chow was still trying to piece together a collection, Wintour's assistant called him to say she had lined up a mini fashion show for him to stage at the Cartier Boutique in New York. Wintour also hand-picked Chow, with several other brash new talents, to be featured in this month's Vogue. It is the kind of attention even seasoned veterans covet.
'I don't call her up all the time but she's always there at the shows to support me and give me advice,' Chow says. 'She tells me to not worry about trends and to find my own signature, something I've really taken to heart. She is quite nice and really fair, and obviously very passionate about fashion and wants to push the talent.'
Chow may be on the verge of his big break. But it is also a crucial time for the designer and his eponymous label: in the viciously competitive world of high fashion, only a few make it and talent alone does not ensure success. While juggling the high costs and logistical burdens of producing a luxury clothing line, Chow must sell his creations widely, and quickly, to prove his viability. He faces a tough challenge from an impressive line-up of emerging talent in New York's fashion arena, including designers Derek Lam, Peter Som and Behnaz Sarafpour.
'It's quite nerve racking,' reiterates Chow, a low-key, modest man who favours Helmut Lang-style minimalism when it comes to his own dress sense. 'It's hard to figure out how to show every season, when you don't have a backer, how to grow slowly, build the business. Finding the right partners for PR or sales ... all this other stuff is suddenly brought to the forefront. Before, you're making a few things and aren't clear about where you're going. Suddenly, you have to be clear about the woman you want to dress, what market you're going into. You have to be much more professional. You have to grow up really fast.'
As well as his rich talent for creating sophisticated, versatile women's clothes, Chow has various factors in his favour, not least the support of Vogue. His timing is also good: he is setting up shop when fashion insiders believe the old guard - the Ralph Laurens, Donna Karans and Calvin Kleins - is dying out.