When I first moved to New York City and started my blog, I had no clue that Instagram influencers and fashion bloggers could even attend Fashion Week. My mindset was still firmly stuck in the past, in eras past when Fashion Week in New York was prestigious, coveted, and exciting. What I later came to realize is that not only was New York Fashion Week no longer the exclusive event it once used to be, it also lost much of the spark that once drew in editors from global magazines.
When it comes to designer fashion, Europeans had always reigned supreme. However, for a moment, it seemed as though, with the entrance of new designers such as Alexander Wang and Jason Wu, New York fashion might just be enough to compete with the Europeans.
I cannot specify the date when I realized that the vision I had of New York fashion wasn’t the reality of what the fashion industry elites thought of New York fashion. Perhaps it was with L Brands’ abhorrent closing of Henri Bendel. Perhaps it was when the whole world laughed at the idea that Coach or Michael Kors could ever compete with LVMH or Kering.
No matter when it was, it was a harsh wake up call to realize that not only is American fashion not respected in the way I personally feel it should be, subconsciously, perhaps Americans don’t even respect American fashion the way that we respect European fashion. Elsewise, why do we brag about our Prada bags or Chanel suits and rarely give that same hype to American products?
This year, Tom Ford officially took over the CFDA. His first task was to revamp New York Fashion Week in an attempt to restore the long lost spark NYFW once had. Truth to be told, whether he succeed or not is to be seen. I, however, will be rooting for Tom Ford’s success because I see the restoration of NYFW to its former glory as a first step in beginning to heal the divides of our deeply fractured American society.
One of the things that made Alexander Wang so successful is that he has an uncanny ability to mix his reality of being a Taiwanese-American in San Francisco to the upper class, white community that he was never a part of in his youth. The end result is his unique take on common clothing pieces that makes all of us do a double-take and feel pleasantly surprised at how refreshing we find the new styles to be. Because in the end, that is exactly what Alexander Wang brought to American fashion: new blood. He fused his reality as a minority with the society he saw and the end result is a fashion house that global fashion elites respect and covet.
As a Taiwanese-American, I find extreme pride anytime someone wears Alexander Wang, and I find happiness anytime Wang himself posts something about Taiwanese culture on his Instagram. Suddenly, everyone in America just learned a little bit more about Taiwanese culture and began to appreciate it more.
This is the power that fashion has, and this is the power that we can begin giving back to minority groups such as Black Americans who have always had their power taken away from them.
That isn’t to say that giving power back to minorities through fashion can only happen if New York fashion starts being appreciated in the way it should be. However, what inevitably happens is that in times of crisis, the inner circle tightens and opportunities become less frequent. How many major minority fashion designers have seen success in the recent years? True, once in a lifetime talent will always be noticed and succeed, but there are so many wonderful, talented designers that deserve to have their time to shine on stage.
One of my favorite shows this season was from Son Jung Wan. Perhaps it was because she was also an Asian woman, or perhaps it was because her entire collection just made me think I died and gone to heaven. My realization from seeing the beautiful collection that Son Jung Wan put together is that while it is amazing that the well-known designers the attention of the world, why are we not talking about designers like Son Jung Wan more?
The runway is big enough for all of us to share.
My genuine hope is New York fashion can once again be seen in the positive light it had historically been looked at. My genuine hope is that we will see more minority designers, women designers, and designers of communities that have historically been disenfranchised step into the spotlight and take back the power that has been taken from them.
Speaking for myself, I have been educated on why the Black experience in America is truly unique. I have also seen firsthand the struggles that women in this country will go through whether they live on food stamps or live in a penthouse on Park Avenue. My eyes have been opened to the struggles that the LGBT community faces when it comes to discrimination.
Race, gender, and sexuality are not issues unique to America, but we can do our part to start mending the divides in our society and begin addressing them in a way that connects people through ways more than words than express. I do not have the answers for a lot of the problems we face in our society. What I can hope to do is to constantly learn and speak with those who do have this experience. What I have noticed is that when I give time to truly learn and appreciate the craft of these communities, I learn more than I ever could have hoped to on my own.
In a way, that is how I approached putting together each one of my outfits.To borrow the words of a fellow blogger Rachel from You Must Love Life, we are all multi-dimensional women. I am not only an Asian woman, but I am also a working woman. I am still obsessed with Disney and my 90s childhood, but I also love how empowered I feel when I wear a short skirt because I have worked hard for my (almost) toned legs.
We as women should not be limited to the same old things, just as fashion should not be limited to the same individuals who never knows what it is like to have their voice and power taken away. In a way, my mixture of Disney with edginess is my way of saying that while it is okay for the traditional fashion elites to remain in the industry and have a voice, it is also time to make way for disenfranchised communities.
Rather than sit here and ramble on about why I loved my outfits this season, I will let the pictures do the talking. I hope that this post helped shed light on how I thought of New York Fashion Week. There are so many bloggers out there giving you a recap of their outfits and shows they attended (which I have done before), but this year, I truly felt the need to talk about fashion week in a different manner. I love you all, and as always, thanks for reading!
