Runway to success

She has shared the stage with a Cantopop icon and celebrated the metaverse in her designs. Four decades after she arrived on the New York fashion scene, Hong Kong native Vivienne Tam is still going strong. Faye Bradley profiles the woman behind the globally renowned label.

Fashion trailblazer Vivienne Tam was back on the Hong Kong stage last weekend, though it wasn't one of your typical runways. She had teamed up with one of the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong pop music, Leon Lai. The Central Harbourfront was converted into the city's largest outdoor catwalk for Lovfinity, a double bill featuring Lai's concert and a showcasing of Tam's Web3-inspired Spring/Summer 2023 (SS2023) collection from New York Fashion Week (NYFW) held in September.

"I think it's a first for both the fashion and music industries in Hong Kong," Tam told China Daily in the lead-up to the event. "Leon is one of my favorite singers from Hong Kong, I have fond memories of him visiting my show in New York many years ago and finally working on this concert together is just amazing."

The show opened with models strutting the catwalk in outfits emblazoned with some of the world's most famous, blue-chip NFT avatars, from Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks to CyberKongz gorillas and Awkward Astronauts, against a backdrop of the glittering Hong Kong skyline. Colorful mahjong motifs also made an appearance in the playful collection. Louise Wong, who plays Anita Mui in the 2021 biopic, sang Lady Gaga's Born This Way.

"NFT, cryptocurrency, DAO - it's like jazz music: either you get it, or you don't," states Tam's eponymous label bluntly in its press release. "Is this fashion, tech or art?" the brand continues, clearly reveling in blurring the lines between the three. Tam has partnered with First Digital, a Hong Kong-based provider of digital asset custody services, as well as the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, to develop her metaverse-themed collection.

"We need imagination and creativity; we need both the physical and the virtual to complete ourselves," says Tam. "We need better balance in the world, and I see the Vivienne Tam brand as being the bridge between the two worlds." With her fashion runway, the designer is bringing more color and feminine energy to Web3.