Sunsets on Mars and romance packaged like a snack. The unease of Twin Peaks, or an imagined religion inspired by a parasitised snail. FJU Talents 26 brought all these ideas together at Fashion Scout during London Fashion Week. The collections looked nothing alike, and that was the thrill.
Presented by Fu Jen Catholic University’s Department of Textiles and Clothing, the show celebrated the platform’s 10th anniversary. Fu Jen first took its graduates to Fashion Scout in 2017, aiming to give young Taiwanese designers international visibility.
Taiwan has a long-standing reputation for functional textiles. This show offered a close-up of another part of its textile culture, transporting us through space, cinema, and the natural world.
Min-Hsin Yu translated the contrasting sunsets of Earth and Mars into hand crochet and ribbon yarn. Orange-reds and deep blues curved around the body, rising into sculptural headpieces.
YUI Kao went loud with Impulse Lover, imagining lovers as products packaged to be desired. At a time when dating apps have turned romance into a marketplace and people into carefully packaged profiles, the idea feels instantly global. Genderless oversized silhouettes, cord corsets, heart-shaped charms and vivid red tulle made the strange business of self-presentation funny, provocative and excessive.
Alison Lai returned seven years after her first FJU Talents selection, now with her label. (She)nanigans. Drawing on the surreal world of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and a viewpoint of patriarchal structures, she moved between deconstructed black tailoring, distorted stripes and dramatic red volume.
Then Ting Hsuan Chang took Cochlea into stranger territory. Inspired by parasitised snails, Chang built an imaginary religion through ritualistic silhouettes and inverse-rib knits. Blending sacred imagery with unsettling absurdity, Chang used textiles to question faith, control and individual consciousness.
Across the showcase, eccentricity was matched by serious craft. Bright colour and unconventional shapes were realised through crochet, corsetry and complex knits. Work-intensive techniques gave the clothes structure and movement.
Together, it felt unmistakably Taiwanese; technically accomplished and visually fearless. More than an anniversary, FJU Talents was proof that an exciting new generation of Taiwanese designers is breaking through.
