Taiwanese fashion designers' creativity and the canon of design

This section examines how Taiwanese fashion designers are cultivated in social conditions involving a variety of organizations. In particular, how the canon of design was both produced and written in Taiwan through media publicity, fashion shows and up-and-coming designer awards is illustrated.

The demand for local Taiwanese fashion designers and their products has steadily risen since the 1980s. Like Eliza Wang, the famous marketing guru Xu li-ling¹³⁹ also argued in 1987 that¹⁴⁰ if Taiwan wanted Taiwanese ready-to-wear clothing to sell in international markets, it would be necessary to begin to cultivate designers. Fostering local designers has since become an important priority in the Taiwanese garment industry.

Three main organizations were established in the 1970s and '80s to cultivate and promote local Taiwanese fashion designers: the Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF), the Sunrise department store, and the Taiwan Fashion Designers' Association (TFDA). The TTF was founded on the 25^th November, 1975, and promoting local fashion designers and undertaking research into the fashion industry were among its objectives. The Sunrise department store was established in 1978, and was the first of its kind in Taiwan to both import international designer collections and sell those of domestic Taiwanese designers. The Taiwan Fashion Designers' Association, meanwhile, was founded in 1987. Zhang, the board chairman of the TTF, stated that its purpose was to foster the skills of local Taiwanese designers.¹⁴¹ How these three organizations have cultivated and promoted the work of this latter group is discussed below.

The Sunrise department store manager Xu li-ling wanted to create a fashion designer label representing Taiwan, and so developed the Carson Huang brand of clothing. In the 1980s, newspaper reports began to provide a discursive framework within which to legitimate designers' activities, with the hope also being to ensure that their designs formed part of the canon of design in Taiwan.

A serious of five feature articles appeared in the United Daily newspaper in installments from April 1987 onwards. These five articles focused on articulating Carson Huang as a creative, talented designer who would be selling her collections on the international fashion market. For instance, the article Two women who want to build up Taiwanese fashion brands (1987), reports how Huang¹⁴² began working with Hsu Li Lin after graduating from the American Parsons School of Design¹⁴³ in 1983. Huang confidently believed that her designs were able to stand on an equal footing with those from the West. She therefore decided to return to Taiwan to create a fashion label to represent the country's national identity. The publishing of this article served to start the legitimization process of the formal status and importance of fashion designers in Taiwan. Huang's creative talents were also constantly emphasized in reports, thereby establishing her status.

139 Xu li-ling was a manager of the famous Sunrise department store in Taiwan in the 1980s, who devoted herself to promoting Taiwanese fashion designers.　

140 Economic Daily News, 1987-08-25　

141 Economic Daily News, 1987-04-04　

142 Economic Daily News, 1987-05-01.　

143 Parsons is located in New York city´s Greenwich Village, and has produced many successful artists and designers.

Parsons was first established as the Chase School in 1896 by the American impressionist painter William Merritt Chase. In honour of Frank Alvah Parsons, who shaped visual-arts education through his theories about linking art and industry throughout the world, the institution became the Parsons School of Design in 1936.　

In an article SHIATZY: a home tailor who keeps working hard for 23 years, and eventually becomes famous in Paris (2006), the fashion designer Wang Chen cai-xia was depicted as a very successful and persistent individual with an international vision about fashion. Her work was promoted as being as wonderful as that of international fashion designers, which was why she was able to put on fashion shows in Paris. Through the article, Wang Chen cai xia was promoted as an important Taiwanese fashion designer with an international vision and enough talent to enjoy the prestige to which international fashion designers are entitled. A section of the article reads:

Nowadays, you can see the store of SHIAZY CHEN at [sic] the street near Museum de Lourvre which has many luxury designer brand stores……The chairman of [the] TFDA, Peng, said 'Many designers who devoted themselves to the design industry have this dream that is to own their boutique at [sic] the street near [the] Museum de Lourvre which has many luxury designer brand stores. There is only one Taiwanese fashion designer who has accomplished this goal, [and] that is Wang Chen cai-xia.

It has been argued that press releases in Taiwan provide a discursive framework to legitimate fashion designers' activities, and to also form their creative, talented status. This discursive framework was used to produce fashion designers' norms and domains of knowledge (Touraine, 1995: 368-9), and to also ensure that their designs form part of the canon of design. Along with publicity in the media, and in keeping with Julier and Kawamura's theories, it has been argued that both the fashion show and the rising star awards for fashion designers are also designed to support the canon of design and establish the creative, talented status of designers.

Fashion shows can be seen as events which seek to reinforce a celebrity system of designers and to also support the system of contributing to the canon of design (Julier, 2000: 48). Since its establishment, the TFDA has held fashion shows, fashion weeks and other events with the goal of building the legitimacy of Taiwanese designers. Each season, the TFDA assists local designers with their fashion shows. One of the reports on the shows claims that:

The autumn/winter fashion show of Taipei in 1993 is not only trying to mold the collection of Taiwanese style … but is also trying to instill Taiwanese spirit into local fashion design.

This fashion show is definitely compatible with other international fashion shows.

In the fashion show, there are 12 fashion designers: Lee guan-yi, Pan dai-li…These fashion shows signify that the garment industry of Taiwan has already upgraded. …Their collection shows Taiwanese fashion style clearly. (United Daily, 1993/April)

These 12 Taiwanese fashion designers' collections were promoted and legitimated as works that represent Taiwanese fashion style. In another fashion show held in 1990, where all of the attending designers were members of the TFDA, vivid impressions of Taiwanese designs were presented.

…the fashion show not only enables fashion designers to present their creativity, but also lets consumers get to know what the fashion trends of next spring and summer are.

There are 12 designers presenting their work this time…Pan dai-li expresses how she

cares about people, things, materials in her 91spring/summer fashion show; for example, she used a traditional straw braiding skill to make her designs… (United Daily, 1990/

October)

These designs were legitimated as creative works and also as the fashion trends of the season.

To some degree, the notion of designers being creative was formed, and their leading position of creating fashion trends was established, through the presentation of fashion shows.

The rising designer award is one of many events held by the TTF to legitimate the canonical status of Taiwanese designers. The first such competition was held by the organization in 1987 with the purpose of fostering talent in fashion design and still takes place today. The top three contestants become candidates for the fashion designer fostering project, and all finalists are given membership to the TFDA. The greatest reward for participation is that the winner will have many opportunities to present her/his ideas and work to the public through the support of the TTF. For instance, the designer Stephane Dou received his award in 1990 when he was still only a second year university student. Since then, he has received numerous sponsorships from different companies, has had many opportunities to attend different kinds of event as a notable up-and-coming new designer, and has also had many chances to present his work to the public and in the press.

Designer Stephane Dou will represent Taiwan by joining the International Interscholastic Competition for Young Fashion Designers in Amsterdam. The theme of the competition is 'New Age'…Stephane Dou wants to redefine the gender definitions for his designs inspired by the concept of new age…. (United Daily, 1991/February)

With the support of the TTF, talented young Taiwanese fashion designers will attend the Competition for International Young Fashion Designers in Paris on the 18th of this month…The theme of this competition is to design creative and practical clothes for a stylish lady who also has a great sense of taste. The design of the garments will also fit the needs of long distance travel…These ten young fashion designers all bring their talent into full play. For example, Stephane Dou embroiders a world map on the back of the garment which he has designed… (United Daily, 1991/December)

It is clear that this new up-and-coming fashion designer has been promoted as a talented and tasteful creator since he won the rising designer award. After receiving it, his talent, creativity and taste became recognized, which is how the award was intended to function for new designers.

Accordingly, their status as representative designers will also be established.

From an organizational standpoint, the TTF, the Sunrise department store and the TFDA attempted to construct Taiwanese fashion designers' creativity, talents and the canon of Taiwanese fashion design. The way in which design publishing forms a discursive framework to legitimate Taiwanese fashion designers' creativity and activities has motivated me to investigate the difference between home tailors and fashion designers, as has how fashion shows and rising star awards for fashion designers form and support the canon of Taiwanese fashion design. Are home tailors just fashion designers whose creativity has not been legitimated and whose designs have not been

constructed as elements of the canon of design? If so, what is the difference between them? What is the difference between the consumers of fashion designers' clothes and those of home tailors? And do fashion designers or home tailors' designs provide more opportunities for consumers to assert their own style and body image?