Pubdate: 7/18/97

HONG KONG (Reuter)  A Hong Kong fashion designer came under fire Friday
after he sent his models down the catwalk with hypodermic syringes sticking
out of their clothes. 

But William Tang, who was criticized by antidrug workers for promoting
socalled ``heroin chic,'' called the syringes merely ``witty accessories''
that depicted the real Hong Kong. 

``I was not promoting it (drugs), I was not glamourizing it. It's a fact, it
happens in our society. It's the landscape of Hong Kong,'' Tang told Reuters.

``If you look closely, you see the bodies of the models are deformed, so I am
making the statement that this is a deformed society,'' he said, referring to
how the models had huge lumps protruding from under their clothes. 

But antidrug workers were not amused by the designs of Tang, who draws his
inspiration from street dwellers and the gangster underworld. 

``There are just so many other creative things you can do for a show. Why do
you have to pick something illegal and lifethreatening which causes so much
sorrow?'' a social worker said. 

President Clinton earlier this year criticized the fashion industry for
promoting the allure of heroin, saying it was wrong to ``glamourize addiction
to sell clothes.'' 

The trend has been prominent in recent years in fashion magazines and
advertisements featuring gaunt models who appeared to be in a stupor.