Taipei, a textile and manufacturing hub, is betting big on its fashion week

Taiwan, one of Asia’s booming textile and tech markets, is betting big on its global fashion standing. The country has increasingly invested in its own creative industries, promoting local fashion designers via its up and coming Taipei Fashion Week. The aim is to bring an international prominence not just to its factories but also to its talent.

Back in 2018, Taipei IN Style, an organisation that supports Taiwan’s textile companies and designers, collaborated with Taipei Fashion Week with a mission to connect professionals worldwide, inviting global buyers to participate in Taiwan’s fashion and business matching events and increase opportunities between Taiwanese brands and foreign channels.

An important week in Asia’s fashion calendar

Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture has taken note and has put its weight behind Taipei Fashion Week to make it one of the four major fashion weeks in Asia, synchronising with similar celebrations held in Tokyo, Seoul, and Shanghai. In a statement Taipei Fashion Week representatives said: “Fashion week is an especially exciting time for us, allowing us to express the full range and diversity of Taiwanese artistry and digital design. The cross-domain and cross-venue cooperation creates a completely new way to choreograph a runway experience – promising a show that attendees will find absolutely unforgettable.”

One of the key events a Taipei Fashion Week is CrossLab: Dialogue Between Art and Fashion, which integrates virtual art with traditional physical runway shows. The event brings together six Taiwanese fashion brands with six groups of artists. Riffing on Prada’s SS22 theme of hosting two events simultaneously in different venues, an experiential dialogue aims to allow audiences to enjoy the visceral merger between high-performance tech and physical fashion - transmitting audio and video to each other to “co-act in different places” and conjure a new style of fashion exhibition that combines virtual and physical reality. It also shows the digital prowess of Taiwan as global tech player.

This edition of Taiwan Fashion Week is the first full media blitz event to feature an immersive, high-tech 5G experience that exemplifies multiple guiding themes for this year’s event: Sustainability, Functionality, Diversity, Cross Collaboration, and Humanity.

“This year we will feature brilliant combinations of six Taiwanese designer brands and artists who bring together art and fashion, while partnering with Chunghwa Telecom’s 5G to transmit and stream multimedia images, technological music, and visual effects. The cross-domain and cross-venue cooperation creates a completely new way to choreograph a runway experience – promising a show that attendees will find absolutely unforgettable. Taipei Fashion Week continues to develop fashion installations illustrating the prosperous and innovative creative merger that is uniquely possible only in Taiwan.”

Taipei Fashion Week runs until 17 October.