Following its runway debut at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in February, 2020, Taiwanese clothing brand oqLiq once again partook in the event and showcased its Spring-Summer 2021 collection at an online runway show on Sept. 17, as NYFW went virtual this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For this season, the Taiwanese brand continues to apply its orient-themed concept and blending high-performance with street style, giving birth to a sustainable design that combines traditional and cutting-edge features.
Additionally, oqLiq's Spring-Summer 2021 collection manifests the brand's efforts in linking Taiwan's multiculturalism and eco-friendly concepts with fashion through the intriguing mix of materials and fabrics.
The inspiration and theme of the collection comes from Taiwan's popular prayer for favorable weather – nature's blessing (風調雨順), which sees the collection equipped with functional design cues and a high comfort level.
Through design details, the new collection also serves as an example demonstrating how the lineup is inspired by Chinese calligraphy characters. Taiwanese functional fabrics are also widely used in this collection.
Orbit Lin (林家豪) and Houng chi (洪琪), the mastermind duo behind the brand, worked closely with Taiwanese new media artist Cowper Wang (王宗欣), who undertook the visual design tasks for Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade and a number of prestigious awards in Taiwan, to present the concept through the virtual runway show.
Lin used to be an internet engineer, while Houng is a designer from a fine art background. Although neither Orbit nor Houng has received solid fashion design training, the Tainan-based duo launched their designer career with passion for fashion and a focus on stylish outdoors essentials.
The duo's backgrounds and local culture have strongly inspired their works. Tainan is well-known for being a development base of high-end technology fabrics, giving them an advantage on experimenting with sustainable and recycled materials.
Both Lin and Houng enjoy exploring the unknown and dismantling cultural symbols, while provide new meanings to their collection, according to the NYFW official website.
They strongly believe exchanging ideas with professionals in all fields enlightens and inspires for unlimited possibilities, the NYFW says.