Taipei Fashion Week wraps up sustainability-themed edition with live audience shows

By

Benjamin Fitzgerald

Published
Mar 22, 2021

​Taipei Fashion Week wrapped up its autumn/winter 2021 edition on March 15, showcasing the latest collections from the Asian nation’s most established designers, as well as offerings from its local emerging designer pool.

Kicking off on March 10, the biannual, six-day fashion event took place at the official venue Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, and offsite outdoor areas, in Taipei. Back by the Taiwanese government, the event was hailed as the world’s first fashion week to have physical shows with a live audience in Covid-19 times; an big feat considering the impact the pandemic has already had on the physical fashion show formats in majors Milan, Paris, London and New York.
 
Over the course of the week, some 18 designers showcased their autumn/winter 2021 collections across 14 individual shows. That included two ‘Young Talent-Student’ showcases, marking the first partnership between the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education and a several fashion design students from Ling Tung University, Shu-Te University, Fu Jen Catholic University and Shih Chien University.

 
The latest Taipei Fashion Week opened with the ‘Taipei Sustainable Collections’, a show made up young designers with existing sustainable practices and “who balance care for the environment with a humanity-first approach to design to find the intersection of style, innovation and social responsibility,” said event organisers, in a statement.
 
The six brands to take part in the sustainability show were Berlin-founded streetwear brand #Damur; designer Claudia Wang; and local brands Just In XX, DYCTeam, Weavism, and OqLiq.

Sourced from local textile industries, each collection featured an array of eco-friendly sustainable textile and fabric technologies, such as recycled scrap tires, upcycled fish scales, and oyster shells. Sustainable sourcing was also the theme of the week. A motion seconded by the attendance of two local manufacturing industry heavyweights: chairman of Formosa Plastics Group, William Wong; and chairman of construction's Far Eastern Group, Douglas Hsu – a nod of support for a new era in made-in-Taiwan fashion.  

Another highlight was the latest offering from indie brand Uuin, founded by designers Tzutsao Liu, Andrea Liu and Van Lin. The trio’s ‘The Gardeners’ collection highlighted how citizens need to unite to resist chaos during the pandemic; reimagining a bright, colourful, and energetic future, on the back of the shadows cast by Covid-19. The brand also teamed up with British footwear brand Hunter and New York luxury brand Steven Madden for accessories in the show.

 
Other shows of note were local brand Allenko3, which sent out its ‘90: Evolution’ collection; deconstructing student uniforms for a demonstration of “orderly rebellion,” and brand Seivson, which questioned the fate of the future through a conceptual blend of avant-garde design and feminine postures which perfectly presented "women's power."

Closing out the last day of the week, designer Bob Jian held his ‘Temple Fairs’ collection inside a dimly lit, laser-centric Songshan Cultural warehouse. Inspired by the designer's childhood memory of temple fairs, the collection was a modern translation of traditional costumes, seen in the colourful combinations of oriental patterns and the masks of eight religious advance guards.
 
While the 14 shows were attended by a live audience this season, Covid-19 regulations and social distancing measures remained threaded into the weave of the week.
 
So much so that organisers teamed up with CSD -- one of Taiwan’s largest face mask manufacturers -- to launch four face masks with design patterns symbolising Taiwanese aesthetics including ethnic weaving, indigo dyeing, plum flower, and traditional window grill.
 
Covid-19 maintaining its reign as one the world's leading style influencers this season.