Designer Wang Li-ling spurs high-end fashion industry revival in Taiwan

2018/06/25

Taiwan’s textiles industry, with its strong manufacturing base, is restructuring toward value-added product development characterized by innovative fashion designs. Boasting inspired fabric choices and pattern structures, the sector presents a subtle balance between artistic and commercial appeal.
 
 Local designers like Wang Li-ling are deeply involved in this process. She stood out at major events like the annual haute couture extravaganza of Taipei IN Style fashion show, which was organized by the government-supported Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF) to promote the local fashion industry. On opening night last November, Wang’s pieces took center stage courtesy of eye-catching photosensitive patterns inspired by monkeys and tigers from the Chinese zodiac.
 
 Real-world practicality and careful selection of textiles distinguish the designs of Wang, who graduated from the Department of Fashion Design at Shih Chien University in Taipei City. “I studied the use of varied fabrics in combination with photosensitive and other light-related technologies,” she said, adding that this springboarded off related academic pursuits at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London.
 
 In 2014, Wang founded Darklight Design Studio in Taipei and contributed her creations to the dazzling opening ceremony of the Summer Youth Olympic Games in China the same year. She has since continued developing her studio, quickly building a reputation for her products on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Wang’s collection The Gestures of Water was featured at New York Fashion Week in February 2016. Her use of photoelectric or photosensitive textiles with motifs from traditional Chinese culture attracted international attention, and she was soon invited to attend next year’s NYFW.
 
 One year later, Wang continued utilizing her “Chinese style with a high-tech feel,” as she described it, in the collection Tantalizing Haze/Knotism Vernacular featuring innovative knotting patterns in addition to her trademark depictions of Chinese zodiac animals. Major inspiration for the clothing line, she said, came from the dreamlike misty scenes commonly seen near Turtle Island in northeastern Taiwan’s Yilan County.
 
 According to Wang, the success of her brand is founded on one of Taiwan’s great strengths: its textiles manufacturing industry. “Local companies are happy to see their products transformed into beautiful things,” she said, elaborating on ongoing cooperation with several domestic fabric-makers.
 
 But Wang is not content with glittering accomplishments at home. She is eyeing Europe and its many commercial and creative opportunities. It seems certain that with talents like Wang on the rise, the future of the nation’s high-end fashion industry is in good hands.

Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=19&post=136567)