I am Wei, a fashion designer of womenswear and accessories.

While growing up I was always fascinated by how things work and why do they work the way they do – I was that annoying kid constantly asking ‘why’. How fashion’s capability of constructing one’s identity is a never-ending question that I have been and still am trying to understand. How a look can determine how we feel or how others perceive us is very fascinating to me, since first impressions are incredibly important.

I think more so than my Taiwanese background, my parents are the ones who helped me build my creative mind. My dad specifically: he is very investigative in nature, and he never gives up until he finds an answer. That influenced my way of looking at things and influences the way I approach design. I believe both locations (New York and Taiwan) nurture an immense amount of unique talents, but the main difference between the two when it comes to fashion is acceptance. New York is extremely welcoming when it comes to diversity of dress codes, new ideas and concept, whereas Taiwan isn’t.

One of the things I love about being in New York is that the city gives the freedom for creative individuals to express their ideas. In a way, it allows everyone to have his or her unique voice in the creative business, be it small or big. I really appreciate people’s constant desire to innovate or create new items in the city.

It’s a combination of problem solving and selfish need. One of the biggest problems in the fashion industry is the amount of waste that it creates on a daily basis. The need to satisfy consumers’ instant gratification of purchasing an item has twisted and damaged not only the systematic cycle of this industry but the environment as well.
The other reason behind this collection is a personal one. I have always mixed, matched and styled garments differently from what they were intended to be. That motivated me to create a collection that is more versatile and adaptable, and in which all the pieces can integrate and create different looks based on the wearer’s needs.

The concept behind the collection is to create pieces that are completely interchangeable and can interact with all the other pieces in the collection. It’s about allowing the wearers to construct/deconstruct and manipulate these garments to suit their needs and desires. It’s about having these basic silhouettes and finding ways to maximize their modularity and interchangeability to fit the wearers’ need.

Since I was a kid, my parents would constantly discuss about waste, and not just within the fashion industry but also within industries that involve consumer goods. So I was brought up questioning the necessity of consumerism and the absurdity level it has reached. Being in Parsons, we were constantly encouraged to find effective manners to combat this behaviour and find sustainable or ecological methods to produce garments. This encouragement has allowed me to investigate and create an idealistic approach of creating/constructing garments, hoping to solve this issue that resulted in this collection.

The purpose and concept behind the collection is to allow people to wear the pieces however they want them to look. They can choose the minimal way and wear only the top/dress, or they can add on as many things as they like onto the garment to get an ambiguous shape. It’s all about customization.

It has been great. I never expected to have garnered this amount of support from my peers and the industry. The next challenge for me as a designer is definitely to bring these series of garments into the consumer’s world. There is still a long way to go for me as a designer when it comes to engaging the pubic with this conversation.

I recently co-founded an accessories label with a fellow designer, Raiheth Rawla. We create limited edition bags that are artistic reinterpretations of everyday objects to bring focus to the often ignored. The intention behind this label is to re-establish the meaning of owning a product, to allow the consumers to cherish and keep the product since none of them are going to be reproduced under any circumstances.