Taiwan Today

When models walk the runway under the bright lights showcasing his latest collection, fashion designer Tsai Yun-tse’s (蔡昀澤) favorite moment is hearing gasps among audience members or seeing amazement in their eyes. To Tsai, these occasions have been his proudest moments since he first stepped into the world of fashion in college. “You’re beyond ecstatic and feel a great sense of achievement if just one of the viewers can grasp the idea you’re trying to convey [through a collection],” explains the 27-year-old designer, who is dressed in one of his own designs—a fitted black shirt with a pleating detail near the chest and small white polka dots on the placket and sleeve cuffs. “It’s when you feel that all the hard work beforehand is well worth the effort, even though it might have been a very long and painful preparation process.”

Tsai has chosen a road less traveled for Taiwanese graduates who have majored in fashion design. Huang Li-ting (黃莉婷), chairwoman and an assistant professor in the Department of Fashion Design at Shih Chien University (SCU)—Taiwan’s first and most prestigious higher education institute of fashion design—estimates that no more than 10 out of some 200 graduates from her department each year choose to pursue careers as independent fashion designers. Most of the others go on to work in media, styling, apparel merchandising or as in-house assistants or designers under established brands.

For the few who aspire to establish their own brand, Huang says the goal is often their greatest ambition in life. “They place themselves in a position where they’re set to encounter a great many challenges and hardships, however, since customers in Taiwan are not quite ready to accept [local] brands featuring a lot of individual personality.” According to Huang, it has only been in recent years that people in Taiwan have begun to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of a brand—products designed with a unique identity or statement. An appreciation for brand names is still limited to famous international lines in the fashion industry and it will take some years more before the Taiwanese public is ready to embrace smaller brands created by local designers, she says.

Against this backdrop, a number of up-and-coming fashion designers in the country are determined to make a difference. YiD3 is a company launched in 2010 to help local designers develop their own fashion brands by providing them with comprehensive support services including marketing, distribution, photo styling, pattern making and sample production. Cofounded by Tseng Chih-duan (曾致端), 31, most of YiD3’s clothing is produced by Tseng, Tsai and Huang Jo-chi (黃弱婍).

The three met while studying fashion design at SCU. Though they all sell their products as part of the YiD3 clothing line, primarily through the Internet but also at small boutiques, each of them has their own individual brand. Tseng says his fashion brand, Tseng Chih Duan—Self-Determination, revolves around the question, “What is fashion?”

“I find the fashion industry quite homogeneous and exclusive. People often make derogatory remarks about anything that deviates from the norm,” Tseng says. “Through my designs, I want to generate more discussion on the nature of fashion and the value of anything different from the mainstream style.” The 31-year-old designer points to a cardigan he wears as an example. The piece is white with patterns and Chinese characters in blue on its raglan sleeves and was part of a collection that incorporated tai ke design elements, such as tattoos and gang symbols. Originally meaning something akin to “Taiwanese redneck,” the concept of tai ke has evolved over the past years from a phrase used to describe poor taste or the style of working-class people to mean something with a local feel. Tseng says his aim was to reverse the once negative impression associated with tai ke culture. His designs feature a toned down, but still masculine, tai ke style.

Huang Jo-chi pushes the boundaries of fashion in a similar way. Inspired by music and her role as a lead singer in a rock band called Honeysuckle, Huang created the fashion line Huang Jo Chi Doribugs, which is aimed at those who feel left behind by mainstream cultural norms or fashion trends. “For those who feel they don’t have the perfect look or figure, I want to tell them through my collection that they can still be happy with who they are … they don’t have to force themselves to fit into styles they aren’t comfortable with,” Huang says. She notes that by combining different types of fabric and accentuating certain details on a piece of clothing, she hopes to provide an option for those who want to express their taste and personality without appearing too over the top. Huang Jo-chi, 25, is best known for designing women’s clothes that are dark-colored, oversized and edgy, but retain a feminine touch.

Another designer with his heart set on challenging stereotypes in the fashion industry is 32-year-old Lu Xue-zheng (呂學政). He established the Lu Xue Zheng brand last year after spending most of his 20s taking on freelance design projects. “I began my own fashion line largely because quite a few people I had provided [design] services for and others around me all encouraged me to do so,” Lu says. The designer says that he was hesitant at first because he was unwilling to compromise his point of view to fit the Western style that dominates the industry. “Fashion should be something closely connected with lifestyle. In that sense, the Eastern world should develop design concepts suitable for our culture and environment in terms of style and textile choice,” Lu says. Unfortunately, he says, it is not the case in Taiwan’s fashion circle. If asked to name a formal article of men’s wear, for example, most people would only think of a suit, although this kind of attire is not really comfortable for people living in a subtropical region like Taiwan, Lu says.

Resolved to bring new ideas to the local fashion sector, Lu incorporates oriental elements in his clothing as much as possible. He says that he is not rejecting Western aesthetics, but simply has a more open attitude toward using Eastern components in fashion design. In his latest and most notable collection, Body Bloom, Lu uses patterns from Hakka floral cloth, a traditional textile, for short trendy dresses and trench coats. Lu says he always likes to mix and match Eastern and Western looks, but also tries to keep his clothing as simple and elegant as possible. “Harmony is key,” he says. “You have to pick the right color scheme and use the right proportion of [different types of] fabric.”

While Tseng, Huang Jo-chi and Lu can be seen as rebelling against certain aspects of the local fashion industry, YiD3’s Tsai Yun-tse tries to reflect his life experiences through his work. Tsai grew up in a farming family in Taichung City, central Taiwan, but left his hometown for Taipei to attend college and find work. Tsai says his designs so far have mostly centered on his experience and feelings about living far from home. Mainly designing women’s wear, Tsai notes that his major inspiration comes from his mother and grandmother’s daily routine of getting up early to work on the farm. “I remember that they never complained about the hard work or anything that didn’t go as they wished,” he says. “Their resilience represents the strength of the women in Taiwan and I want to pass on that spirit. That’s why all the women’s clothes I’ve designed so far are aimed at demonstrating and celebrating women’s independence, self-confidence and strength,” he says. Tsai’s latest collection, Break Through, under his brand name, Tsai Yun Tse, draws on the imagery of small plants growing between the cracks in hard rock, and is intended as a portrayal of the vitality of life. The clothing uses the shapes of rock fissures and rose petals and combines hard and soft fabrics to portray the vulnerability of life amid a tough environment.

Inspired by the Everyday

Another designer who is inspired by everyday life is Chiu Mei-ning (邱美寧), 28, who launched her own brand, Envol Avec Ning, which means “taking off with Ning” in French, in 2010. “Each of my collections talks about what happened to me during the time it was designed; it’s my way of keeping a diary. I hope that people can feel they’re taking this journey to fulfill my dream with me when they see my works,” Chiu says. For her 2012 autumn/winter collection, Mask Theory, Chiu created items of clothing that can be worn in a number of different ways to demonstrate the idea that people frequently wear many faces or masks. The versatility of these garments also reflects her brand’s core concept of expressing a childlike mischievousness. “My inspiration often comes from a child’s perspective of different things in life,” Chiu says. “Children can often turn something serious into something fun and cheerful,” she explains. The baggy design of many of her clothes relates to the idea of carrying a whole family with her, an idea the designer likes and which represents children’s deep attachment to their family, she says.

A career running a fashion start-up is not without challenges, however. Tseng says the two biggest obstacles for independent fashion designers in Taiwan are a general lack of interest in local brands and higher production costs. “One of our greatest challenges is communicating with manufacturers to ensure our design ideas come across accurately,” Tseng says. Huang Jo-chi shares the sentiment. She points to a shirt design in which she added a collar-like cuff to the sleeve, noting that she had to spend a long time to help the contractors understand her request so that the product would turn out just the way she had in mind.

According to Tseng, the complexity of such designs adds extra costs to their production. The higher expenditures are also more noticeable given the relatively small production runs—usually no more than 100 pieces of any given item and sometimes just one piece—from one design. As the production costs increase, the sales price has to go up, and it becomes harder for local designers to compete with international brand names. “For those who can afford to pay for products from independent designers, it’s very likely they’ll choose established brands over ours because a big brand name means more quality assurance for them and is something they can show off,” Huang Jo-chi explains. Clothing from these independent designers also costs more compared with most of Taiwan’s online fashion stores. Women’s dresses sold by YiD3 cost between NT$3,000 (US$100) and NT$5,000 (US$167) and men’s shirts range from NT$2,000 (US$67) to NT$3,500 (US$117). A cape by Envol Avec Ning costs around NT$17,800 (US$593).

Taiwanese to the Shirt Tabs

Nevertheless, Huang Jo-chi says YiD3’s designers have been dedicated to boosting the quality of their products so that they are now on par with international brands. So far, YiD3 has insisted on having all the production done in Taiwan, right down to the small plastic clips used to maintain the shape of new folded shirts. In addition, the designers set high standards for details, like ensuring smooth seam lines and matching up patterns at places where two pieces of fabric are sewn together.

Envol Avec Ning’s Chiu says that the most difficult part of her work is meeting her own ideal of perfection, which usually means she must put in long hours. “I spend almost 20 hours on my work every day,” Chiu says. “My computer is always in front me. I work until right before I go to sleep and the first thing that occupies my mind each morning is design.”

Likewise, Lu Xue-zheng works hard to continue learning and growing as a fashion designer. He says he has spent a significant amount of time improving his pattern-making skills, for example, an effort intended to improve his communication with production contractors.

The hard work of these up-and-coming designers is paying off in various ways. Lu was invited to organize his first solo runway show at the Taipei International Flora Exposition in 2011. Later in the same year, he gained the opportunity to design winter wear for 3M Co., a multinational conglomerate based in the United States. Chiu, on the other hand, is tapping overseas markets by selling her clothing in one boutique in Hong Kong and one small shop in Beijing. She also launched a joint fashion collection last year under the brand name STAYREAL × Envol Avec Ning with celebrity Ashin (陳信宏), the lead vocalist of popular Taiwanese rock band Mayday.

YiD3 designers have seen their company begin to break even since the beginning of this year. All three have been frequently invited to showcase their works at various government-sponsored runway shows and their designs have begun to draw attention from overseas buyers. They are also gaining fans in Taiwan. Erica Hsu (許怡婷), 30, for example, raves about a white shirt designed by Huang Jo-chi she received as a gift. Hsu says that the piece is one of the most flattering shirts she owns and she also felt pampered by the beautiful package it came in and the detailed information enclosed explaining how to wash and take care of the garment.

Surprisingly, the young designers talk very little about making money. For now, most of them take on various design projects such as styling for celebrities to maintain a reasonable income while they build their brand names. Chiu believes that perseverance is the key to success in the fashion industry. “Money should not be the top priority for young designers,” she says. “Don’t get frustrated or just give up after you experience a few months of low sales. You’ll get there and receive double the reward for your hard work as long as you stick with it.”

SCU’s Huang Li-ting agrees, saying that young designers in Taiwan have to stay the course until local customers develop more appreciation for individuality. That day should not be too far away, the professor says. One very positive sign is the recent rise of chao-pai—street fashion brands catering to young people who identify with certain subcultures. “These are local brands, not big international brands, and their designs so far are mostly still limited to simple clothing pieces such as T-shirts. But when you see these personalized products gain such large popularity, you see the potential of turning this passion into an appreciation of [local] fashion brands,” Huang Li-ting says.

Write to Audrey Wang at ycwang06@mofa.gov.tw