Taiwan's with it for Spring-Summer 2005

As a fashionista, I can’t help reading up on the latest trends. So yesterday I bought the March edition of the British version of Vogue, and today I saw the family supplement of the United Daily News, one of the biggest Chinese-language newspapers here in Taiwan. And guess what: both identified the same trends for the spring and summer of 2005: floral prints, ocean themes, and ethnic designs.
The flowers out there are not just on dresses and skirts, but on shoes and handbags as well. A prime example is Dior’s logo series: you have the original logo series showing the letters D, i, o, r, and for this year you just add a sprinkling of colorful flowers here and there, and there you have it: fashion.
The ethnic motifs are nothing new to Taiwan: last summer was an Indian summer here. New shops opened up everywhere selling trinkets from the Indian subcontinent, as well as cotton dresses with Indian motifs, such as elephants. The question is how many of those stores will survive into the summer of 2005 as tastes and styles change. Vogue tells us Africa, and especially Southern Africa, will be fashionable this summer, but given Taiwan’s tenuous links with that continent, I can’t see an African explosion happening here.
The third theme for this summer is the ocean, with blue and white, the favorite colors of sailors and typical for the Mediterranean, and certainly Greece, predominant. The United Daily News gives this theme short shrift, with only a couple of Louis Vuitton shoes with colored and white lines fitting the subject.
Anyway, all of this still leads me to the conclusion that Taiwan is closely following international fashion trends, or at least the media are. The question is: when will we actually see those themes in the stores, and on the people of Taipei? Stay posted.
In the meantime, before I can show the fashions of Taipei, I’ll be taking a peek across the water, spending a few weeks in the empire once known for its baggy blue uniforms and blownup caps. Yes, Taiwan fashionista is going to dress up as China fashionista for a short trial period.

The Mediterranean Manifesto by Enzo Ciancia

Recent travels have convinced me of one thing: the future belongs to the Mediterranean!
I’m not talking pure geography here: the sea at the heart of the Roman Empire has long ceased to be the center of the world. The area now consists of often sluggish and by European standards “poor” economies on its northern rim, and civilizations wracked by centuries-old religious clashes on its southern rim. When I say the future belongs to the Mediterranean, I mean the Mediterranean state of mind, the Mediterranean spirit and lifestyle.
The 21st century is often said to belong to China, or even to India, but in any way to Asia, but how could those populous, busy, hardworking, chaotic giants of the future show any similiraties to the relaxed, blue-water beach mentality of the Mediterranean? The aspirations of those Asians who want to move foreward in the world correspond to the Mediterranean lifestyle.
Just look around in Asia: from the Ferrari-Maserati dealership on Shanghai’s Nanjing Road to the Italian restaurants popping up in the desert town of Jaisalmer on India’s frontier with Pakistan, from wine-tasting evenings in Taipei to plans for a nude beach on a Hong Kong island, those are phenomena that show the spirit of the Mediterranean is very much alive in Asia.
Asians want to share in the Mediterranean lifestyle, enjoy its fashions and foods, its relaxed lifestyle focused on the enjoyment of moderate sun and clean water, without sacrificing what makes their own cultures so specific and attractive to outsiders.
And just another example: what one billion Chinese are getting the most excited about, is a Mediterranean creation: the Olympics hosted by Beijing in 2008.
What is Taiwan Fashionista's part in all of this? Well, to witness the interests of Asians in things Mediterranean – most of the world’s most fashionable brands originate in Italy and France, with Spain as a secondary partner – and to record Asia’s, and especially Taiwan’s, own contributions to the development of the Mediterranean lifestyle with Asian characteristics.
The prime aim of this blog is still to provide visual information about style, design and fashion on the streets of Taipei, and that is what I will begin to do shortly.