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Vivienne Tam Defines ‘China Chic’

Fashion Designer Vivienne Tam sits in her New York showroom. Style is spiritual to Tam. Photo by Associated Press.

By Francine Parnes/AP

The Asian invasion of fashion by designers around the globe typically translates into sexy Chinese sheaths, mandarin collars and kimonos. But what sets Vivienne Tam apart is a different approach to Asian aesthetics—her ability to tweak Chinese prints with a Western twist.

Having made a splash in seasons past with her zany prints of Mao Ze Dong—with a bee perched on his nose or pigtails adorning the Chairman’s coif—the New York designer is no stranger to what makes China chic.

“China Chic” is, in fact, the name of her book to be published this fall (ReganBooks, HarperCollins), for which she polled people in the streets of her native China to discover how they define style.

Style is spiritual to Tam. Worn from Hollywood to Hong Kong, her stretchy mesh prints come alive with Buddhas, fierce dragons and peony patterns.

“The Buddha image has always been in the temple, and I wanted to make it more accessible to the people,” says Tam. “On clothing, it’s like a walking image, not just for the person wearing it, but for the people looking at it. It’s a reminder of ourselves, that we have Buddha in our heart.”

As for making light of Mao? “He is such a serious icon,” says Tam. “Everyone is so afraid of him.”

Tam credited Mao in her essay on Chinese style in Newsweek: “China, for me, has always been a very fashion-driven country. Where else could one man tell more than 1 billion people what to wear? From the beginning of his political career, Mao Ze Dong was a fashion czar—but as always, through contradictions. For Mao was anti-fashion: he tried to equalize people through what they wore.”

Yet Tam, with sleek, black shoulder-length hair, managed to stand out. In 1995 she was named as one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People.”

Born in Canton, Tam was only a year old when her landowner parents fled Communist China with their firstborn son. She remained at home with her grandparents but joined her family in Hong Kong one year later, after escaping with a couple who pretended to be her parents.

Fashion came early to Tam, who learned to sew when she was 8 while watching her parents tailor garments. Her bicultural upbringing fueled her fascination with East-meets-West, which became her signature style. She spoke Chinese at home and English at school when she wasn’t speaking “Chinglish,” a language she concocted with friends.

“I grew up in Hong Kong where I went to Catholic school, but my family would go to temples,” she says. “It’s a hybrid way of life, where I learned to be more open and accept other people and other cultures. Therefore my clothing has always combined the two together. Having this perspective gives me a new way of looking at things.”

Tam was transformed by cross-cultural childhood experiences, such as seeing a bride change from her Western white tulle gown into a traditional red Chinese silk wedding suit, so heavily embroidered with dragons and phoenixes that it was almost three-dimensional. “When I look back, I know these weddings and banquets were my first fashion shows,” says Tam, who declined to give her age.

After graduating from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, she headed to New York with a duffel bag filled with promising designs. She created her first collection in 1982 under the label East Wind Code, which refers to an old Chinese saying for good luck.

The good luck paid off.

In 1994, Tam launched her first collection under her namesake label. Three years later, she opened her New York store. Last April, she opened in Tokyo. She also has boutiques in Hong Kong and Kobe.

High-end stores in the United States, including Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, sell Tam’s styles, ranging from $98 for a cotton T-shirt to $1,315 for a hand-beaded gown. The company had 1999 sales of $40 million.

Among Tam’s greatest hits is her print of Kuan Yin, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. It hangs in the permanent archives of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Former Law & Order star Benjamin Bratt bought a dress with the print for girlfriend Julia Roberts.

“Her clothes are the perfect balance of being simple but also unique,” Roberts told People magazine. “You can be comfortable and still look better than everyone else.”

Tam’s chic chinoiserie has also shown up on Britney Spears, Madonna, Goldie Hawn, Lauren Holly and Leelee Sobieski.

Her interest in Asian history and pop culture inspired Tam’s upcoming book about Chinese lifestyle, incorporating fashion and food as well as architecture and art. Cheong sams and noodle bowls, Zen gardens and Ming chairs, all figure into the book.

She traveled through Shanghai and Beijing for nearly a month in 1998, asking celebrities and locals to define “China chic.”

“I talked to so many different people, from taxi drivers to artists,” says Tam. “For a taxi driver who doesn’t have much money, it’s hard for him to understand what’s chic. Money or friendship or family—that’s what’s chic to him.”