Fashion Designer Vivienne Tam on Her 'China Chic' Style, Sustainability and New Technologies
From fashion to food to culture, Asia is at the center of it all. Asia is here, and this icon of design is all in. When a lot of people say maybe that is not possible. I say, try it. It's possible. But with the luxury sector under pressure, with suffering so marginal financially, what are we going to do? You know? And the industry facing the challenge of reducing its carbon footprint, the designer, who is celebrating 30 years in the business, must now balance fashion's newfound sense of responsibility with the need and desire to thrive.
You have to change. You have to challenge yourself in order to become better while exploring a future where luxury and technology needs. Hong Kong is no stranger to a convergence of cultures where East and West intertwine, where old and new live side by side, and where thousands have found creative inspiration, including fashion designer Vivienne Tung. Do you live around here? Yeah, we live around here. We grow up here. Every Trevino at this file ought to show
me for mainland China. Born in Hong Kong. Raised. Vivian Tan. Inspiration is everywhere below the tonsils.
Some of the available colors that you can choose from. With a look at the twins love for a stroll through a local fabric market, revealing the energy and spirit that flows from her backyard. Reading. This brings back memories of your
younger days. Yeah. I moved my mom to come here to get all of the materials from the factories to make our Chinese New Year clothes. And you still come back here because she continues to discover so much to choose from. Passion has powered this designer through 30 years. In business, though it hasn't always been easy.
It's been quite a journey. We knew that the pandemic, for instance, had businesses, including yours. You've had to sell off some of the operations in China and shut your flagship in New York, for instance. How were you rebuilding the brand? The business was suffering so marginal financially, What were we going to do? You know, after it is a quiet moment to refresh yourself, to think about what is new, what you want to do. You know, the e-commerce and the customer buy habit were very different than space for me to think about my work and how I can engage customers. From the catwalk to the consumer.
Vivienne Thom, 30 years in business, has built a loyal following she hopes will transcend generations. Vivienne, we're at your store. That's a lot of drag in lots of Phoenix. I want a billion. Tom in here. Who is the Vivienne Thom tie in town? Yeah.
How a woman made a drag and gagged never left their lawyers, their CEOs. They're like a cantons now. They are important, like decision makers, women in the world. Why that pitch? Why do you position your products for this group opening? When I started to know designing and I always wanna do something that is empower women. When you take a look at your store, there is something for everyone. Take a look at the T-shirt, for example, by customer growing, you know, like 30 years already, so they become more powerful. I also want to grow my gen-z audience
to, you know, they are like in the twenties, so it is a more affordable price for them. Knows they start learning my collection, learning about my brand, and then, you know, my powerful women's daughters wearing their moms dresses after wearing it, that they feel that that feeling that the power, you know, the energy. So now they come back to the store to buy more. They'll soon have more to buy than high fashion. Tom has her sights set on cosmetics, home goods and even a line of activewear.
Could Vivienne Thom be a one stop shop? Could you offer a lifestyle to. Yeah, you know. Yeah, but I am working. I'm working on there like a home because I have a lot of this.
All the textures really being suitable for the home furnished. And actually when I started my design work, I always looking at the furniture materials, I always find that, you know, wow, how can I copper into the dresses, into jackets and all that, you know? So is it still in the process of being launched or are you planning to. Liaoning drifting? Donna. Yeah. So I try to find, you know, 25. When you talk about luxury at this point
in time, I mean, a lot of people say that it is a difficult market. Gucci, for instance, LVMH, say that it is a difficult time. How do you look at luxury in selling luxury goods right now? I think offering the customers of our time this ethical products. No, I think that's very important. And something must show they can wear all the time because the buy habits of our differ. They don't need that many clothes. They feel good when they wear my
collection. They feel very good. And Mary had to yeah on. Tom also feels at peace in Hong Kong's jade market, a place where local artisans make handcrafted jewelry. Vivienne Where at the jade market is not just about jade Very special store for the Chinese in particular. Because you asked about JT at Pearl, you have all sort of stones, no sort of jam and snow.
You hear this incredible. The colours, the colours you can choose from is so inspiring, like in a way that they're not to get to know what else are bracelets of them that knows. And you know again, how I got inspiration by looking and all this like the how they you know with the wood, with the knots of Chinese knots and not to there to know like the past so it's you know and then Arctic is very traditional like the Maori traditional, very traditional and, and it's so beautiful I particularly watching them how they not it is so fast and the like the way you look at the, the skill is incredible. How are we looking at expansion? And how important is China to that plan? I think, you know, China is very, very important.
You know, and and I see that more and more about the Chinese customers are very much into the new ideas and now exploring new concepts. We since they go to China very often because I want to learn more about the markets, it's very different than how I started before, you know. They don't want anything Chinese, though. Now they are embracing the Chinese news from the government to the people.
And I think that is that is really, really encouraging. This really amazing time for China at this moment and especially customers. And they're very adapting to the new world. So China is a key market for you. Yeah.
And there's so much to learn, always learning and adapting. Wow. There was really give me a new perspective. A new perspective, a new creative space. Coming up, Vivienne Tom Post pandemic
taking on Web 3.0 and beyond when Latitude returns. Board eight Cryptopunks Cyber Kongs Nfts or digital collectibles that at their height sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars now transformed into physical garments. Part of Vivienne Thom's COVID era collection Bridging the virtual World with a real world. There was that time an NFT is really popular and an NFT company came to me and it even issued to NFT and oh, wow, NFT. I don't know anything about it. Let me let me look into it, you know,
And yeah, I find the images of the NFT is beautiful and why do I bring them to the physical world? And also for me, you know, by doing this to a collection, I get to know the Web3 community really well and understand their community and then start learning, learning more. And I think I keep on exploring the space. Wow, that was really give me a new perspective and new creative space I'm thinking about going forward, even though it's a difficult time during COVID. But I find a way to really make myself very energetic and relevant and then reaching out to like a new audience and then is a new way of marketing and expanding my business and my customer base. From wearables to smart fabric, digital
walls, and even A.I. technology has become interwoven with the world of fashion. And it's more than just a trend. It's now a necessity for the industry to keep up with developments. Vivienne You talked about technology and Nfts. Yeah. In fact, you've designed for the
metaverse. Yeah. Yes, it's very exciting. Why have you embraced technology? What potential do you see in it? I think fashion cannot live without technology. The first time I did the technology part
against the HP computer, it was like a 2009 is a woman digital clutch. It's a beautiful peony flower. It isn't just a computer it catches. But when you beautify it, it becomes like a high fashion product. Luxury Product II has penetrated pretty much all sectors, including music. I can write music. Compose music. How do you see technology shaping fashion? How do you see AI changing the landscape in fashion? Yeah, I definitely help.
When I did the jewelry, I used the air, you know, helping me to give some light. I did. But ultimately, you still have to do a lot of of it. You know what? It does give you very superficial ideas and, you know, but at the end, you still have to customize and have to really make it and do that.
I do not think that I on the technology can replace the human mind at this moment. Are you concerned one day we won't be able to differentiate designs by AI and designed by an actual designer? I don't know. For me, I see that no one a designer doing is the spirit, is the heart that the computer don't have. So you go physical. Yeah.
This is my dragon. This is the five element dragon. Oh, really? But it's a unique approach to design that Vivienne Tom is embracing to tackle one of fashion's and the world's biggest challenges global warming. The industry has been widely criticized for the business model known as fast fashion apparel makers, churning out new styles on short cycles at low prices, generating increased carbon emissions and a massive amount of clothing waste. What are your thoughts on fast fashion? It's been transformative. It gives the masses access to fashion, but there's a cost to it.
Downside to it. My personal is there's too much waste. I think there's also how I grew up, you know, making your own clothes and making space for something as well as special and where you need is like kindness. And now you see that everybody is looking the same no sweatshirts and wear t shirts. And for me, it's just like when they wear something special, they feel empowered.
Is there a need for fashion to be more mindful of the impact it's having socially, environmentally? Is it happening enough? I think it's happening. It's gradually, gradually happening. All the designer is doing. Everybody is thinking about this subject at this moment, thinking how to be more sustainable, how to be more environmentally friendly. We're now more sampling.
We're just using a row of fabric. But after cutting for production, we're going to just make this pieces the size exactly the same, and we don't really need to print that. So is to minimize the wastage, but I try to also use this one. The bags doing the Covid would make massive mass for that. Do you think the fashion industry is doing enough to ensure that it is sustainable? There's so many targets out there. I think even realistic and in wanting to
achieve them, I think some of them are just I doubt that using sustainable ideas as the marketing concept only they're actually not really doing it. I think as a designer, you know, what's really important is our responsibility to really make it happen, to spread it out. In the latest collection of wedding dress line, the designer is focused on upcycling. This so beautiful, reusing the intricate
lace and embroidery from previously worn dresses, some used as many as 16 times before, Tom and her team sought to dismantle them. You know, you cannot believe this one I 16 times already. See it? They cut the way they place.
It is very traditional. The placement is must be like 50 years ago, but now place differently to give them a new life or maybe a new spirit. It's that creative way of thinking that is now inspiring the next generation of designers. Wow.
It's so amazing when latitude retards. Hong Kong is not the first place you think of as home to a fashion icon, but it's the sights and sounds of the city. So amazing. Hong Kong. Look at all this that have inspired designer Vivienne Thom throughout her career. We're in this wonderful space where you
put the finishing touch to your collection for the recent Paris Fashion Week. Your designs reflect your roots in China, in Hong Kong. Mystical dragons, for instance. What's the motivation behind your designs? My motivation is always about East and the West. I was born in China, but grew up here. I'm the embodiment of Hong Kong culture.
Hong Kong is the gateway to the West and also gateway to China is so exciting. I'm so lucky to grow up here. What I'm doing is a reflection of who I am. I love it. The journey started 30 years ago. Fresh out of university, you made your way to New York City. At that time, I carry my 20 pieces from
Hong Kong and then just go like calling all the department stores and they say, Are you the manufacturer? No designers there. You know, when you hear that something like there's no designers at your manufacturer. And I feel like I feel the hurt at that moment, you know, but I constantly call it they can see my designs.
They know that the designers, the beautiful works. From there. It was an open call for designers at famed New York Department store Henri Bendel, where Vivienne Thom first broke through. Henri Bender One day per week, there is
an opening day for all designers. So I carry my 20 pieces and I wear like a winter mao jacket. Then I braided my hair. I want to be a my own model. You know where to close. I want to like the body immediately can see my clothes.
So my designs, the moment where they saw my clothes is like, Wow, I have not seen something like that whole year. Like that. Beautiful. You know, something special for them. So I think, Wow, this is great. This gives me so much encouragement. Give me the first order. That's how I started. From the windows of Henri Bendel to retail stores across Asia to designing for the stars, Tom has always kept true to her roots, using colours, designs and images closely associated with the East. I want to keep the the dragon, the faded out faded out and that dog and get involved and then coming to save me. Yeah.
Would you say that fashion has moved? Perhaps moving towards the east? I think every city have the old uniqueness. Yeah. Now China finding its own uniqueness. Every country have the always, you know, the American style. You have the French style. You have Italian style. You have a British style. You have Japanese style. Now you can have a Chinese style, which is so beautiful about it, embracing the own culture, sometimes very challenging to use cultural as an inspiration to design something for a modern woman, a modern lifestyle.
But I find it so fascinating. I'm always like looking for like in my new collection, How can I bridge? How can I tell a story from the beginning, the inspiration to the end, the fashion show, and then to the consumers? My last collection of a cultural harmony. I want to bring the two world together. I'm like the ambassador of the two two world, and I. My podcast reflects that. Every collection is like a story to tell, and it's like a small journey, a life to a small life journey.
Vivian, You talk a lot about love. This is long. This is love to ask the hard to know. We see the Chinese writing love and also a more, you know, the French. This is like the love between the two countries, but also this place here. And this is like really old at least 100 years technique. Why is it so important for you to always
bring the old and try to update it? When I see the old things, I have to urge you because it's so beautiful, but it's not for the modern world and particular when I bring the old culture and make it into new and then people wearing it and then the different generation looking at it, they said, wow, they cannot believe that is something derived from the old culture, from their culture. But making a new is opening their mind. I think that is something that I love to do and is always I try to do myself is a fulfilling to. You talk about growing up in Hong Kong and how that has been a big part of your brand.
Talk to us about your earliest memories in Hong Kong. I know you grew up in a modest flat, very small, less than a hundred square feet. What do you remember the days in Hong Kong, the early days in Hong Kong? I can talk about, you know, my design inspiration for my mother. I like watching her, making her own clothes, and I start making my my clothes when I was eight years old, making clothes for my siblings, like for Chinese New Year because we don't have money to buy new clothes. Though my mother would say, Let's go to the free market to buy low scrap material left over from the factories, we make patchwork clothing and then, you know, and then my mother would say, How beautiful is this? The only one piece in the world, the most beautiful one. Nobody have it, you know? And then that's how I learned about individualities and creativity.
Some people are special. I remember that when I was young, I had to toy. I make my myself. And when my schoolmate told me I was. I was beautiful. I feel so much joy. It's like people wearing my clothes that when they told them about how beautiful they are and I feel so much joy and that is really moment that I feel making beautiful things make people happy. It's that joy Tom hopes the industry's next generation will feel as well.
Returning to her alma mater, Hong Kong Polytechnic, offering advice to the designers of tomorrow. If it did so, I know that a lot of time when we're in a studio, we always think about just about the console and forgot about what we're going to wear. You know, you have to think of a commercial, how to really make it work, how to how think about the field, the body, how it looks, where they look good on the on the person. We have to make sure our designs can sell. A lot of top designers came from top design schools like Parsons, Saint Martins. You came from Hong Kong Poly Universe?
Yeah, That's because it is at a time for perhaps Asian institutions in the fashion space. I think that it doesn't really matter what school. I think as long as that's who you are, being yourself and and work hard and do what you love and have a meaning.
What you doing? You talk about being yourself. This is the time. But this is also the time of greatest scrutiny as an artist, as a designer, as a fashion person. How do you draw the line between being creative and also not creating offence to the authorities? Is that fine? Yeah, there's always a fine line. In the past we don't really need to
think too much about that. But now a day is like a lot to think about, you know, to not offending different, you know, society. There's always something like that, you know, doing what she's loved for the past 30 years and looking forward to the next.
My day is not one day, maybe even one. 30 years of Vivian Chong. What will the next 30 years bring for Vivian Tung? I don't really think about 30 years and so on, but I think that I'll just keep on learning about the world. The watch was so interesting already. Like 30 years ago, nothing like that was
next. 30 years. I really don't know. What is the new thing? Maybe for, well, five left. Six. As you look to the future, have you considered perhaps listing the company? Have you thought about succession? How are you looking at the future? Yeah, that is the that is the plan. Like working with the studio and working with the new young designer and. Come on, collaborate with them.
Finding the circle economy. Expanding, expanding, expanding it. I don't know. What is it going to be most important? Deliver a really beautiful products that people want. You talked earlier about how nobody believed you would succeed.
Nobody. Nobody believed in the potential of China chic. Now, looking back, it is a vindication. Yeah, I feel like I cannot believe. I think that, you know, true to what you believe, what you're doing is lead you to something amazing, just true to yourself. And do you really believe.
2024-07-28 20:14
