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.
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.
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