David Szeto has provoked lavish praise from an exclusive list of private clients since 2004. This was the year that savvy international womenswear buyers snapped up his first, French - made, wholesale collections. Along with Yves Saint Laurent, it is Madeleine Vionnet who is his inspiration. Szeto, is a master technician. His haute couture-style lies in his innovative cutting on the bias or half-bias. This allows his fabric to flow with its grain. Rather than sketching and then creating a pattern. Szeto designs by hand-draping cloth on a mannequin before folding, twisting or deciding where each seam lies to create the desired form. The style is conceptual without being difficult or unfeminine and flatters women of all shapes and sizes. Szeto grew up in Vancouver but studied at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, where a Comme des Garçons/Madeleine Vionnet exposition first inspired him to break traditional dressmaking rules. He applies this approach as much to his business as to his designs, rejecting the global brand mentality of many luxury conglomerate labels and preferring, for the time being to remain small and focused. After graduation, Szeto worked for five years in London, before moving to Paris in 1992 and then to Brussels where he remains today.