Chinois Chic

From Asian label to a flagship on Avenue Montaigne in Paris, Taiwan’s Shiatzy Chen has spent 40 years shaping its name. Just how has designer Wang Chen Tsai-Hsia taken her brand so far, asks Alice Franklin

- Alice Franklin

THERE ARE FASHION houses almost everybody has heard of — the likes of Alexander McQueen, Valentino, Céline and Versace. There are also those that appear to fly a little more under the radar, known within sartorial circles yet not as widely spoken of away from stylish quarters. It’s here that Taiwanese brand Shiatzy Chen sits.

Wang Chen Tsai-Hsia’s label represents something quite rare in the fickle fashion firmament, and that’s an Eastern label that quietly has grown to impress some of the industry’s most stylish ladies (Natalia Vodianova, Jessica Alba, Karlie Kloss and Carine Roitfeld have all been spotted at the brand’s runway shows, after all).

This year marks the 40th since Wang and her husband Wang Yuan-Hong founded the label. Without any formal training, she worked tirelessly to ignite local support for Shiatzy Chen as her aesthetic developed and the label set its foundations in Taiwan.

Finding global success as an Asian fashion brand is notoriously difficult. Big questions surrounding decades of Western dominance in standards of beauty and business are inevitable, and it’s right to raise them. On this, Lane Crawford’s Senior Buyer Jillian Xin insists more needs to be done to support home-grown brands.

“Supporting and championing Asian talent is incredibly important,” says Xin, “not just because of Lane Crawford’s heritage but because I truly believe Asian talent represents the future generation of global talent.”

Wang is clear on the challenges she has faced as a non-Western designer managing her own label: “Most of the media give a high evaluation for Western brands. Although it’s a very hard process for us, we won’t give up. We work harder to prove ourselves.”