Abstract These interviews were conducted for MOCA's 2013 fashion exhibition, Front Row. The exhibition traced and celebrated the rise of Chinese American designers who have made their mark in the international world of fashion. In the interviews, the designers discuss the diversity of their aesthetics, their individualized approaches to branding, and how their varying personal relationship to cultural identity has shaped what we now understand as not only New York fashion, but an American sense of...

Abstract Jeannie Lee Jackson is a Chinese American and native New Yorker. She recounts the origins of her seemingly unusual surname for her ethnicity. She recalls her childhood in Brooklyn, growing up as the only Chinese person in her school, working in the family's laundry business, and the role Manhattan's Chinatown played in her life. As a former member of the Ging Hawk Club, she remembers the social activities she engaged in and how it led to her serendipitous meeting of her husband. Jeannie...

Abstract William Chiu, born in 1952, begins this interview recalling his childhood growing up, learning and working in Hong Kong. He talks about his father’s work as a chef and his father’s fateful opportunity to immigrate with his family to the United States. He describes his education and reasoning for desiring to go to the United States. William recounts his first job working as a waiter in training before beginning to work with his father in the restaurant business. He also describes the working...

Abstract Renowned fashion designer Anna Sui recounts her formative influences, including being taken to a textile store to purchase Chinese garments during her first trip to visit her grandparents. Having a mother who studied painting and talked about art and a father who was an architect also contributed to influencing her art and style. She also attributes her interest in fashion to natural inclination and personality, and recounts collecting inspiring things which helped her develop her own style...

Abstract Humberto Leon and Carol Lim were both born in Los Angeles and studied at UC Berkeley. They are the fashion designers behind the brand Opening Ceremony. They discuss learning a lot from their mothers about quality, fit and fabric, and attribute the sense of ease and nurture associated with their store to their mothers as well. They believe in having a story behind their collection, and think that the increasing interest in fashion is due to the internet making information about fashion,...

Abstract David Chu was born in Taiwan and studied fashion design at F.I.T. Initially, because he loved sketching and drawing, he thought he would study architecture, advertising, or communication, however, a summer course on fashion history at F.I.T. led him to take an interest in fashion. He ended up traveling to Asia and upon his return, landed a job at the apparel company Kayser-Roth. From this, he learned a lot about the industry, and after five years, decided to found his own company, Nautica,...

Abstract Derek Lam was born in San Francisco and studied fashion at Parsons School of Design. His family being in the garment business partly influenced his decision to enter the fashion industry, but he ultimately chose this path because he wanted to do something creative connected to business. He decided to start his own brand because he wanted to make that a challenge for himself but he was not naturally someone who liked to put himself in the forefront as having one's own brand required. Perhaps...

Abstract

Jade Lai is a Chinese American designer and was born in Hong Kong. She did not have formal training in fashion design but went on to work for Espirit and started her own brand Creatures of Comfort. In this oral history she discusses her design aesthetic, and the joy of being a designer in New York City close to the garment district. At the end of the interview, she discusses the universal impact fashion has and the success of Chinese American designers.