Nestled among the confectionery stands and racks piled high with bags full of mushrooms, spices and incense in the market area of Taiwan’s capital is a very different store. Here, in what is known as Old Taipei, the fashion designer Chiahung Su has chosen to open his first boutique. The Chiahung Su store opened in 2022 during the coronavirus pandemic, when rents were low.
It is in an area bursting with culture and history; Roxanne Chen Gadsby, the founder of fashion company Dyelog PR, says it was once the busiest trading area in Taipei – the Tamsui river is close by and boats would unload tea, Chinese herbs and foreign goods. “It is so interesting that he has decided to set up shop there given his creative process goes back to [plant] roots – Chinese herbs and vegetable dyes.” A Trojan horse of sorts, the business has an anthropological bent – it is looking to promote indigenous Taiwanese culture under the guise of a high-fashion label.
It does this by collaborating with a diverse group of aboriginal peoples dispersed across the South Pacific, from the heartlands of Taiwan to the islands of Polynesia, including the preservationist Yuma Taru. The fibres and dyeing processes Su uses have a long history, he explains from behind a desk cluttered with artefacts, books and bottles. They use cotton, linen and silk produced using raw materials grown in Taiwan.
Fibres from the ramie plant, in the nestle family, are harvested and woven into bespoke textiles using techniques.