It started with a chance visit to a fashion retail shop on the ground floor of the Howard Plaza Hotel on Ren Ai Road, Taipei on a rainy late afternoon in October 2008. In the window were mannequins, one male wearing finely tailored dark trousers and a see-through chiffon black shirt over a white high-collared shirt worn as a set. The figures were set against a background of a three-meter tall openwork wooden screen display enhanced with atmospheric lighting. On closer inspection, the clothes featured tailoring methods that fused traditional Chinese and modern western conventions, with intricate and innovative details, and accomplished using fine-quality materials, such as ramie mixed with cotton, blends of cashmere and wool, and cotton interwoven with bamboo carbon fiber.
The chief designer of these unique clothes is Taiwanese-born Madame Wang, or Ms Shiatzy Chen, who established this eponymous label in 1978. Madame Wang received global media coverage when she marked the 30th anniversary of the brand with a fashion parade for her Autumn / Winter collection 2008/09 at the Paris Fashion Week in March 2008.
While most attention is focused on her fashion for women, this blog is dedicated to her menswear which covers a full range of items for men of all ages, from fine jackets, suits, trousers, knitwear, great coats to accessories, such as belts and shoes. The label’s menswear has not garnered much exposure in the media – Shiatzy Chen generally does not advertise in glossy magazines and is not featured much in their editorials.
The chief designer of these unique clothes is Taiwanese-born Madame Wang, or Ms Shiatzy Chen, who established this eponymous label in 1978. Madame Wang received global media coverage when she marked the 30th anniversary of the brand with a fashion parade for her Autumn / Winter collection 2008/09 at the Paris Fashion Week in March 2008.
While most attention is focused on her fashion for women, this blog is dedicated to her menswear which covers a full range of items for men of all ages, from fine jackets, suits, trousers, knitwear, great coats to accessories, such as belts and shoes. The label’s menswear has not garnered much exposure in the media – Shiatzy Chen generally does not advertise in glossy magazines and is not featured much in their editorials.
