For young hipsters and style leaders in Taipei, the standardized merchandise sold in department stores and by international top-end fashion houses spells the death of individuality and uniqueness.
The style-wired crowd prefer to make weekend pilgrimages to their own fashion mecca that is the East District (東區), which covers the numerous alleys and back streets off the intersection of Zhongxiao East Road and Dunhua South Road. From seasonally popular elements, American casual, vintage, sport and ethnic wear to punk, hip-hop and Japanese street outfits, the mushrooming boutique stores that cram the East District offer a colorful variety of goods that cater to shoppers of all fashion persuasions.
In the maze of narrow lanes, shoppers are required to take a few test trips to get a feel of what the fashion zone has to offer. Right behind the nightclub Luxy, yuppies can get tailor-made suits for between NT$10,000 and NT$20,000 — a real bargain considering they are made by veteran tailors. Next to the rows of popular tea houses are Wax and Roxy that carry surf boards, gear and outfits, as well as beach wear by well-know US and Australian brands.
PHOTOS: HO YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The standard attire for taimeis (台妹), a term coined by Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽) and MC Hot Dog (姚中仁) on their album Wake Up and refers to beautiful Taiwanese women, includes hot pants and tight tank tops and can be found in plenty. People who have a more specific agenda and more money to spend can browse through P'S (自私著物), the newly opened Underground that stocks cutting-edge Japanese designs, or Taiwan's foremost punk establishment Chaos, which carries imports from Japan, the US and UK.
Twenty-seven-year-old salesman Chen Wei-hsin (陳維新) is one of the savvy fashionistas who likes to shop in the area. "I don't have the money to follow the craze for top-end brands, which I think are plain silly anyway. In the East District, you can't be a mindless buyer... . You need to know who you are, what suits you and make a personal statement out of what you wear," Chen said.
Unlike Ximending (西門町) shopping precinct, the stomping ground of teenage subcultures and underground aesthetics, the East District presents a mixture of urban sophistication and attitude.
Kelly Wu (吳凱莉), 24, and her girlfriend are veteran East District shoppers who spend significant portions of their monthly incomes on clothes and accessories. The pair said that Ximending is immature, while the East District offers a good mix of styles. "Ximending is just for kids, and the East District is a more upscale fashion center where you can get anything in vogue at reasonable prices," Lin said.
What is considered a reasonable price, however, is up for a debate.
Shoppers who pay top dollars at East District stores for trendy attire are seen by some in the know as suckers since the same merchandise is available more cheaply at Wufenpu (五分埔), the popular clothing market opposite Taipei's Songshan train station.
"Low-end merchandise from Wufenpu has flooded the area and most people can't tell the difference. The market is being messed up and we have to keep lowering prices to compete," an East District vendor told the Taipei Times.
The price war makes it difficult for young entrepreneurs to succeed. For the 20-somethings who run small fashion businesses, the East District is a fierce battlefield where shops open up and fold within months and new establishments under construction are a common sight.
The individuals who struck gold in the area's renaissance are those that took
advantage of rising real estate prices by
renting out available commercial spaces that are often sublet to relative latecomers.
"The subleaser divides the space into several partitions. Each partition is about five pings; the rent for each is NT$40,000 to NT$50,000 a month. When young people open up a store with say NT$500,000, they are really cash-strapped considering all the expenses involved, including plane tickets and accommodation if they go to South Korea or other Asian countries to buy stock. And if they don't bring back the right stuff to attract shoppers, the money will soon run out and they're out," Hsiao Po (小柏), the owner of a menswear outlet, said.
Despite the Wufenpu invasion, shop owners and clerks often boast that their products are authentic imports from South Korea and Japan. And it is true that many serious proprietors have to make monthly treks to the apparel distribution centers in South Korea, Thailand and China for
garments with all the trendy elements of the season. Currently, South Korean imports are the most sought-after items since they are considered bargain buys in terms of price, quality and style.
But in the eyes of style insiders, those goods are merely rip-offs of Western brands. "South Korean items are decent copies of big-name brands such as Disgrace and D&G. The cut is great, and their distressed detailing looks exactly like the real deal. People will look at it and go wow, but it just looks good on the surface and won't last," the owner of AWA who goes by the name Paul said.
A stylist for local stars such as Jay Chou (周杰倫), Paul believes original, edgy
Japanese design is the style of the future. Since European and American imports don't fit the more petite physiques of Asians, and casual wear brands plentiful in the East District such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic or Gap are not acceptable options for super chic shoppers, Japanese fashion, with its
successful marketing strategy of limited runs and distinctive yet subtle designs, has
gradually won the hearts of style leaders and has spawned a growth of Japanese top to middle-ranged fashion outlets.
"All the international big brands have made moves on young consumers and leaned towards street fashion. It's a good indicator that young people have become the driving force in the fashion business," Paul said.
To Paul and other fans of Japanese street wear, the middle-range fashion niche is up for grabs. "We don't have that kind of capital to play with the brands such as Underground or A Bathing Ape ... but as style leaders who have to look one step ahead and never follow behind, we can bring in more fashion items that are hip and different," the 34-year-old stylist said.
To be fair, the East District territory does have a unique edge in that a profusion of personalized boutique stores and alternative brands fosters cult tastes. Yet as copycats of seasonal cat-walk trends run amok, individ-uality is perhaps a myth, or a white lie at best, sugarcoated by young fashion vendors and consumers alike.
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