Fashion creations of students from four local universities took the runway at a "Young Talent-Student" segment of Taipei Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2021, which concluded on March 15. The four winners who were chosen via online popularity and industry votes were announced on Mar. 30.
Through the collaboration between Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education, 125 fashion design students from four colleges – Fu Jen Catholic University (FJU), Shih Chien University (USC), Ling Tung University (LTU) and Shu-Te University (STU) – showed their designs in two shows on March 11 and 12 at the Taipei Fashion Week. The students were provided with resources and an international stage to manifest their talent for design. The industry-university exchange helps young talents to gain more exposure and actual experience.
Chen Chia-Ching (陳家慶) of USC, Chiang Wen-Hsuan (江玟萱) and Lee Yi-syuan (李怡萱) of FJU were selected as the winners for "Potential Design Talent Award (具潛力設計新秀)," while Hou Yung-sheng (侯永笙) of STU won the online popularity contest.
Inspired by earthquakes, Chen designed a series named "Richter scale 8.0," hoping to emphasize the importance of tectonic plates structure in nourishing life on earth through his works. His works display impeccable details, stitches and pattern lines. Chiang made use of jacquard knitting, pleated cloth and iron chains to express her thoughts about life, that is, even with some slight imperfections, life will be complete eventually. Lee combined knitted fabrics and cement to present the mottled texture of a mining claim, as a way to draw attention to environmental protection issues.
Addressing the fashion event, Vice Minister of Culture Lee Lien-chuan (李連權) stated that, through the event, it shows the world the infinite creativity and amazing works of Taiwan's young talents. He expressed his hopes that the various sectors in the society will give positive affirmations to our new talents.