For his first Paris Men’s Fashion Week, on the official calendar to boot, Taiwanese designer Angus Chiang took guests on a cycling adventure around Taiwan, complete with form-fitting Lycra and sponsor badges.
Utilitarian, sporty shapes were par for the race course, revisited with the smart details — sleeves that snap open, detachable elements — so loved in today’s fashion game. Pedestrian materials were used throughout. Through a translator, Chiang said after his show that he had wanted an anchor in reality, since he designs real clothes.
But his reality was sometimes just as fun as fiction. Details hinted at a cartoonish outlook on this Taiwanese caper: The oversized buttons found an echo in the rounded shoes that wouldn’t look out of place on Mickey Mouse, but also in the circular pockets at the back of jeans.
Shallow caps were perched on the models’ heads — when they weren’t crowned by oversized clear plastic bags that referenced the betel nut, a popular fruit sold on the roadside by scantily clad women.
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Vivid, almost brash colors went beyond the primary palette favored by sports gear and reached for hot pinks and acid greens. Crystallized elements were one way to bling out, but the sponsors’ patches were their foil, equally decorative and gaudy.
A finalist for the 2017 LVMH Prize, Chiang trained at Shih-Chien University, in Taiwan. Graduating in 2013, he scooped the International Show Award at London’s Graduate Fashion Week.