Fabric Innovation and Fun Are the Two Major Takeaways From Taipei Fashion Week | Vogue

For a second year, Taipei Fashion Week opened with a conscious focus on sustainable fashion, this time in the form of a group show featuring C Jean, DYC Team, oqLiq, Tsung Yu Chan, UUIN, and Weavism, each unique in their approach. Taiwan is known for its progressive textile industry, mainly around innovations in tech and utility fabrics. In recent seasons we saw a surge of young designers tapping into this vast resource, working closely with local manufacturers to find new and feasible methods to cultivate cleaner production lines. 

The beauty of these sustainable collections is that they’re highly wearable, notably OqLiq and Weavism’s urban utility-inspired outerwear, with the occasional tailored winter coat, made using materials from recycled ocean waste such as oyster shells, fish nets, and fish scales. UUIN’s exaggerated silhouettes and bold prints, meanwhile, are fun additions to the wardrobe—and they’re chemical free.

A few common denominators from the fall 2022 runways were echoed by Taiwan’s emerging designers. Yentity’s minimal lines and color palette jibed with the more grown-up, elegant attitude of collections we saw in Europe. AISH and Seivson’s respective interpretations of romance involved some grunge played out with textured layers and intricate structures, and Claudia Wang closed her show with a couple of sporty glamour moments.

Creative director Jill Shen put on a stellar show for Seivson, offering a modern twist to her signature vintage wallpaper print on coat linings, shirts, and cut-out dresses. The collection was a delicate and up-to-date mix of Victorian and cyberpunk reference that opened with a padded print dress designed in collaboration with Japanese label DISCOVERD and included reimaginings of outerwear. The deconstructed trench coats-turned-trousers that were paired with sporty cutout tops looked fresh, and an exaggerated skirt made out of a tent added a nice touch of whimsy to the runway.

For the debut ready-to-wear show for her label AISH, Jean Hsia mixed wild west references with a hint of retro; highlights included deconstructed denim, chiffon, and soft yet grungy textured layers. Also worth mentioning were the knits inspired by indigenous Taiwanese weaving patterns and the hands that create them.

Claudia Wang’s genderless collection was a fun visual feast, with departures from slouched shoulders to more structured silhouettes, and daring combinations of checks, plaids, and op-art patterns in bold saturated colors. The occasional water-colored creature added a fairy tale element to her prints. Equally bold was DAMUR’s lineup, which was reminiscent of Y2K rave culture with its oversized cut-out hearts.