Even though we are currently under the shadow of Covid pandemic, fashion is still unstoppably progressing. It is the fifth year of Taipei Fashion Week, and the organizers have been expecting that fashion is able to have crossover collaborations with diverse cultures since year one, in order to have the fashion week in Taiwan with its exclusive cultural expression in the world.
Taipei has been being surrounded by all sorts of fashion elements since October. You are able to see the key visual of SS23 < Meet> almost everywhere in Taipei, whether they are light boxes in metro stations, posters on streets, and flags hanging on street lights. The visual is two women wearing the garments designed by Yuma Taru and Justin Chou. Their design manifests dynamics of the beauty of indigenous crafts and modern fashion. The hidden history of culture in the visual indicates the encounter between Dutch people and Taiwan indigenous habitants. They learned the European cross-stitch from these Dutch people. Then they met Japanese during Japanese occupation era, and knew how to make headwear with kimono sense. Now, we are in the 21st century, these indigenous artisans inheriting the crafts from their ancestors, encounter fashion designers living in a modern city. Together, they create original works of Taiwan fashion. They prove that the process of fashion evolution is actually the result of cultural encounters time after time.
The grand opening show of SS23 is “CrossLab : Dialogue between Indigenous Art and Fashion”.
It includes the introduction of five “National Living Treasures”,
who devoting their whole life to indigenous clothing culture. The
five artisans are from Seediq, Atayal, Kavalan, and Paiwan. They are
going to present 50 garments with another five contemporary fashion
designers, and guide fashion fanatics to walk through the time
corridor, and witness the origin of fashion of this island, and
leave a significant record in Taiwan fashion history.
14 brands participate SS23 fashion week, and they are #DAMUR、be
homme、C JEAN、DOUCHANGLEE、GIOIA PAN、INF、JENN LEE、Liyu
Tsai、oqLiq、Seivson、Story Wear、UUIN、WANGLILING、Yentity. In
addition, many people look forward to seeing the “New Breed” show ,
and the young talents’ works are available on the runway as well.
These young talents include “BOO”, winner of 2018 fashion design new
comer, “PCES”, grand prize winner of 2021 Hong Kong Redress Design
Award, and “WEI. TZU-YUAN”, SS22 Taipei Fashion Week New Talent.
Ministry of Education gave a tremendous support during the run-up of
Taipei Fashion Week as well, the campus audition campaign launched
last March, and gathered the top three and most popular works from
the graduation shows of universities with departments of fashion
education, such as Shih Chien University, Fu Jen Catholic
University, and Shu-Te University. In addition, there are works of
the winners of Kaohsiung Fashion Design Award and Taiwan Fashion
Design Award. All these creative works become a diverse and vibrant
“Young Talent” show, and the public is able to appreciate the strong
dynamic force of design.
We are currently living in an unstable era, the boundary between the value of tradition and avant-garde becomes vague, and a new force is trying to set up a new order. SS23 Taipei Fashion Week utilizes clothes as a carrier, and indigenous culture as a foundation, in order to manifest the uniqueness of Taiwan contemporary aesthetics and make a remarkable and vivid memory for the next generation.
Taipei Fashion Week launched a select shop last year during the
event, and received a very positive response. TFW collaborates with
Breeze Couture this season, and is going to launch an exclusive
select shop again from 10/14 to 11/30. Breeze Couture is located on
Daan Road, Taipei City, this road is regarded as a cradle of
nurturing Taiwan fashion designers.
Fashion pioneers such as Isabelle Wen and Jamei Chen both have a
boutique store here. Many Taiwan design brands are going to be in
the space of Breeze Couture this season. Breeze Group will assist
designers to upload their works on E-commerce websites, and intend
to have a contractual relationship with brands which are willing to
be in Breeze Couture on a long-term basis after TFW, and introduce
them to suitable overseas fashion buyers. By doing so, Breeze
Couture truly achieves to have Taiwan fashion liaise with
international market, and helps creators have more resources.