Despite being one of Taiwan’s most accomplished fashion designers, Miciq Rangi is not your typical fashionista. Her accessories of choice are not bug-eyed sunglasses but her own handmade earrings adorned with coix seeds from the plants of her native Hualien.
Settling into a coffee shop in New Taipei City’s Banqiao train station before a full day of interviews with various media outlets, Rangi carefully pulls out from her carry-on bag, a long, flowing dress made out of soft white cotton fabric. The white is symbolic because it is the color which represents her tribe, the Truku. The diamond-shaped stitch work motif throughout the dress is a nod to elements found in traditional Truku apparel. By contrast, the front slit and ruffled purple train attached to the back both give the dress a modern, zesty feel.
“Why not bring high fashion into Aboriginal culture,” Rangi says.
Photo courtesy of Lian Chang
Her hand-woven dresses, like Rangi herself, are products of vastly different worlds blended together harmoniously. She is from Taiwan and is also of the Truku tribe. She is well-traveled and feels most at home hiking in the mountains and gorges of Hualien while evading flying squirrels.
First and foremost, though, Rangi hopes to promote the idea that Aboriginal clothes are also Taiwan’s national clothes.
“I want to make Taiwan’s Aboriginal culture known to the world and to make sure that people will not confuse them with qipaos,” she says referring to the slim fitting Chinese dresses.
Photo: Dana Ter
Rangi’s efforts are paying off because her designs have been worn by models in fashion shows across 26 different countries, from Thailand to Turkey.
OVERCOMING HURDLES
It is difficult for any young, aspiring fashion designer to launch a successful career, but Rangi shouldered the extra burden of facing criticism from her community for trivializing her culture.
Photo courtesy of Lian Chang
She says that her grandmother was afraid that people would exploit their culture for financial gain.
When Rangi started blending modern elements such as high slits and form-fitting cuts into her clothing, her grandmother and the elders in her community were noticeably upset.
“They questioned many aspects of my clothing, asking if our people in the past wore clothes which contained such designs,” she adds.
The pressure was so strong that Rangi chose not to travel to Japan to attend the first international fashion design competition she was invited to. She sent her clothes and models there instead and only began traveling overseas to promote her designs after her grandmother had passed away.
The concerns expressed by her elders years ago are understandable, especially in the context of recent events. In June, residents of the Truku village of Mukumuqi in Hualien County protested against the influx of tourism in the area. The treatment and portrayal of Aboriginal culture as a tourist attraction has been a sensitive issue lately.
CONFLICTING EMOTIONS
For years, Rangi had struck a compromise by abiding by her grandmother’s other wish, which was to abstain from teaching Truku weaving techniques to people outside her community. And to this day, she mainly teaches classes on crafts and jewelry making.
Believing that her designs celebrate Aboriginal culture, she says, “I want to present my designs on the world stage but still make my grandma proud.”
Rangi notes that younger generations of Truku people are starting to become very interested in her designs. Although she also designs men’s apparel and vests, she says that her wedding dresses are the most popular. Made with the same soft white cotton fabric as her other dresses, her wedding dresses employ Truku motifs in the hemming, often in the form of red and gold lines.
Occasionally, Rangi redesigns qipaos, sewing Truku patterns along the sides of the slits. These pieces are also very popular amongst young women.
Yet it is still a delicate balancing act for Rangi.
“My designs need to satisfy people of all age groups,” Rangi says, “therefore, I still harbor conflicting emotions towards designing these clothes.”
BUILDING BRIDGES
Regardless of her qualms, Rangi is a fixture in the world of indigenous haute couture and she is one of the few designers from Taiwan who hand weaves all of her clothing and fits her models.
“In Taiwan, there are lots of designers who are inspired by Aboriginal culture but there are not many who are Aboriginal themselves,” she says.
She cites two main reasons for this. The first is the lack of a customer base. The second is the lack of capital to open a shop or start a company since fabrics are expensive. Unless the designer has connections, it is very difficult to receive government funding for this kind of endeavor.
Rangi says she tries her best to help young designers who are stuck in this dilemma.
Her advice is, “don’t climb too fast in this industry or else you’ll fall.”
She adds that “many designers tend to fight over a niche market.”
Rangi herself has overcome this barrier by promoting her clothing and jewelry in other countries. She says that her designs are a way of bridging divides and facilitating a better understanding of Taiwan.
She will head to Beijing at the end of August, and in November, she will bring a convoy of Aboriginal male models to showcase her men’s fashion in Singapore.
“The truth is that people abroad love the designs because they are filled with meaning,” Rangi says.
Her designs are best paired with her handmade jewelry. Pointing at the wooden beads on her earrings with the coix seeds, she explains that they are supposed to represent bridges.
“Our ancestors are waiting on the other side of the bridge for us,” Rangi explains. She adds that “they have to use the bridge to help departed souls ascend to heaven.”
Although Rangi has set her sights globally, her clothes and jewelry are rooted in the soil of her native Hualien. Each thread and seed tells her own story, along with the story of her people, past and present.
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