Designer Zang Toi Dresses Lexus Spokespersons

Learn More: 2017 NAIAS (Detroit Auto Show) Press Pass Coverage

By Maureen McDonald
Senior Editor
Michigan Bureau
The Auto Channel

Detroit January 10, 2017; With a wide variety of vehicles at the North American International Auto Show representing the USA, Japan, China, Germany and England, take note of the latest car model fashion from a designer who immigrated from Malaysia, Zang Toi. He designed the sophisticated and comfortable knit dresses and matching cardigans for Lexus.

"These are fun clothes that help the women look beautiful as they represent Lexus," says Toi, a New York fashion designer who sports mini-kilts and meow-enhancing hats with ears. "We use old school materials that hold up throughout the auto show season."

The Lexus models are among 243 product specialists that suburban Detroit modeling agency Productions Plus staffed at the NAIAS, and 101 brand ambassadors. The Lexus models had knit dresses with Asian-themed designs stenciled onto the knit fabric. Chevrolet dressed its people in Detroit Denim jeans and Ecco shoes for maximum comfort, while the Audi women had cocktail dresses. Chrysler had models in everything from skin tight dresses to furry boots and down jackets, depending on the car line.

"We create wardrobes that look like the brand - from pickup truck rugged to luxury-sedan elegant," says Margery Krevsky, CEO of Productions Plus. "We've spent a year working with Toi to develop the Lexus look. Each outfit is measured for the model wearing the clothing so it fits perfectly.

Clothing needs to hold up under pressure. The product specialists cover between 60 to 80 days a year at auto shows from Los Angeles to Boston. They greet more than 24 million people who come to shows. The specialists not only dazzle the customers with clothes and genuine smiles, they undergo at least a week of training in technology, product features, ride and handling and brand history so they can answer customer questions with ease and intelligence.

Toi hopes to design even more clothes for product specialists in coming years with outfits made in his studio in New York City. Among his achievements, he has dressed Hollywood celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Elizabeth Taylor, Farrah Fawcett, Patti LaBelle, Gong Li and Heather Graham, along with such luminaries as Melinda Gates and Saudi Princess Haifa Bandar Al Saud.

"My clothing and Lexus models represents the perfect marriage of design," Toi says.