The theme for the opening show of Taipei Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2022 was “CrossLab: Dialogue between Art and Fashion Show,” where six groups of Taiwanese designer brands: UUIN, INF, AustinW, C JEAN, DAMUR and Just in XX were invited, where different artists respectively collaborated to create an immersive experience between body and space, as well as between what is virtual and what is real.

Therefore, we are honored to be invited by Condé Nast to create a complete stage visual and experience design for this fashion week.

We imagined the product display of the six groups of designers and artists as an observation of different universes. We tried to graft the reconstruction of the time and space in these universes together, from a dark underground with flowing substances, to caves with condensed jade clanging the walls, passing through the black clouds and roaring sounds caused by anxiety, and then diving into the hysterical particle universe, place with thousands of intertwined silk, until we get to a dream that flows continuously.

UUIN is a clothing brand jointly established by three designers. The brand name is a combination of the letters from the last names of the three designers. This brand tries to bring customers a concise and comfortable body aesthetics. Kai-chun Chiang is a new generation Taiwanese artist whose art is in the form of mosaics.

The visual highlight of this group is “Marble and Taiwan Jade of Taiwan East Coast.” The local magazine from Fengtian, Hualien County seem to be transformed into a piece of silk fabric of humanity and geography. They turned mosaics and jade pieces into patterns on the fabric, and then combined them with UUIN’s clothing concept. Through the process of deconstructing and then piecing them together, the wholeness of the crossover between clothing and art is presented.

INF is good at deconstructing styles, dismantling and reshaping traditional styles, and sketching out a series of products that are deformable and “able to be worn in different ways.” Chiaos, on the other hand, works with local stories in Taiwan, and his artwork are filled with elements such as legends, myths, bizarre stories, fantasies, monsters, and gods.

This collaboration comes from the designers' and artists' love for Taiwanese monster and strange countryside stories. Combining local folklore with fashion, and through deconstruction and reinvention by both parties, these stories are given a new look and a different core spirit.

Austin Wu, founder of AUSTIN.W, teams up with Billy Degas Luo, artist with Asperger's syndrome, and, together, they design a capsule series with the elemental concept of suit by superimposing each other’s ideas, while keeping the idea of a person. In the conversion between 2D and 3D, a different way of conveying images that are different from the past could be seen, where crossover and fashion are explored through using laser cutting, same-color sketch embroidery, blend transparent acrylic materials, diverse material experiments, and finished printing.

#DAMUR changes the way of conveying the inner spirit that artist Tung-lung Wu wants to express in his artwork, so as to tell the public that although many things seem clear from the front, conclusions still cannot be easily drawn. When the model walks towards the audience, the artist's oil painting is projected on the large-area, pure-colored cloth. The base is simple but elegant under the light projection. On the back, printing, patchwork, and other techniques are used to recreate the symbols on the painting.

When the model is leaving the runway and the back is facing the audience, under the pure white light, the audience can see the nifty character of the symbols on the back. Exaggerated outlines are used throughout the series to increase the projectable area, thereby maximizing the presence of the artwork and presenting the spark from fusion.

C JEAN Designer Chun-yuan Jean explores various environmental issues through clothing, reflecting on the connection between life and nature. Tennii Studio has been actively investing in the research and development of natural dyes and textile dyeing for more than 30 years. The theme for the show is “Moment,” using Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) as the main narrative body to talk about the essence of life. In the eternal universe, life is as beautiful as the Queen of the Night, but it withers away in an instant. This series of works is a transboundary collaboration with Tennii Studio, manufactured using natural fiber fabrics and natural dyes extracted from plants. Reserve dyeing techniques such as sewing, tying, binding, and immersing are used to control the penetration of the dye solutions. With the concept of positioning the dye and the reassembly of multi-layered fine art, the sustainable spirit of both parties are presented in an exquisite and fashionable way.

Just in XX is good at perfectly integrating high-end fashion, Taiwanese art, craftsmanship, and culture with the concept of sustainability into its fashion design. Paul Chiang is a contemporary art master who has, for his whole life, built a spiritual world of self-satisfaction “The Ultimate Spiritual Sanctuary” through his artwork, making it his inner yearning and belonging. At the same time, through such a sacred space, he confirms his existence with his belief in “purifying the world (people’s souls).”

At the opening show of this season’s Taipei Fashion Week, Justin Chou will present a new transboundary art series co-branded with Taiwanese contemporary art master Paul Chiang, with inspiration coming from the new artwork “Four Seasons” from the exhibition Paul Chiang: A Retrospective at Taipei Fine Arts Museum and his charming representative artwork over his fifty-five-year artistic creation journey, such as “Transfigured Night,” “Hundred Year Temple,” “Silver Lake,” and the colorful “Pisilian.” The clothing series will interpret the life of Master Paul Chiang from his artwork during the window-shuttering period to after moving to Taitung, stirring up a new perspective of art and fashion.