DALLAS — Vivienne Tam is translating her iconoclastic vision of Asian style for a wider range of shoppers with a contemporary line called Vivienne Tam Dress, which launched for spring.
With prices starting at $298, all the Tam novelty touches are there: oversized paillettes, Chinese calligraphy, bonsai-tree prints, metallic brocades and elaborate and intricate macramé and embroidered details. A lush and expansive color palette embraces tones of purple, red, gold and gray. The top retail price is $750 for a brocade, jacquard or beaded cocktail dress with retro Asian styling such as long skirts, feminine and flirty lace bodices and tailored and proper sleeves — imagine “I Love Lucy” goes to Shanghai.
First-year sales are projected to reach at least $2 million, industry experts said. Vivienne Tam Dress is intended to sell in a range of contemporary, department and specialty stores and marks the start of an ambitious, but concerted, expansion strategy that might include in-house or licensed denim, handbag, shoe, swimwear and home collections.
“I love dresses, and we’ve had so many requests from customers and from store buyers to expand our dress offerings and make them more accessible to a wider range of shoppers,” said Tam, chief executive officer and chief designer at East Wind Code Ltd., the New York-based company she founded in 1983. “The idea is to reach more customers and grow the business.”
Missy Altus, co-owner of Nono’s in El Paso, Tex., a women’s contemporary store that is carrying Vivienne Tam Dress, said, “Vivienne Tam’s sense of humor, sophistication and novel take on Chinese style has a following — my customers love it.”
Tam’s designer dress line sells to more than 300 stores, including Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue in the U.S., as well as accounts in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Tam also has a network of almost 40 namesake stores across Asia and New York.
Vivienne Tam Dress started deliveries in March and offers 20-piece capsule collections at least 10 times a year to stores in order to keep stock fresh and entice repeat business. Tam’s designer collection already has a sizable celebrity following, including Madonna, Julia Roberts and Britney Spears.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
Tam, a native of Canton, China, who was smuggled into Hong Kong at the age of three, continues to explore her passion for all things Asian with at least monthly trips to China. She also has starred in ad campaigns for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Northwest Airlines, and has designed mobile phone cases for Motorola.
Her book, “China Chic” (Regan Books), was published in 2000 and was updated and reprinted last year. It includes a quirky cavalcade of Asian style, from arcane Chinese moon festivals to retro pictures of Chinese courtesans to visionary ponderings on the future of Chinese style and architecture.
“My passion is Chinese culture and the synergies of combining Eastern and Western style,” she said. “It’s an ongoing celebration in my life, and I continually seek new ways to express it.”