Taiwanese-American fashion designer, Alexander Wang, was born in San Francisco in 1984, where he lived most his childhood. At age 19, Wang moved to New York to set in motion his dream of becoming a fashion designer and enrolled into the prestigious Parsons.
After dropping out two years later in 2006, Wang launched his self-titled label, which originated with a knitwear collection based on six unisex lines. In 2007, Wang launched his first full womenswear collection at New York Fashion Week, embodying a casual cool down-town style inspired by ’80s French chic and urban-grunge. Wang has since been notorious for his masculine cuts and un-traditional looks expressing a dichotomy of “crazy chic.”
In 2008, Wang moved on to launch his first handbag collection and was also awarded U.S. $20,000 in prize money in honour of winning the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund to expand his business. Wang’s Fall/Winter 2008 Collection accentuated black as his dominant hue. Deciding to brighten things up a little with his 2009 Spring/Summer Collection, Wang exploited colours such as aqua, hot pink, orange and purple, stating: “they wanted colour, they got colour.”
In 2009, Wang launched his diffusion line ‘T by Alexander Wang for Women and Men’, footwear and accessories. Also in 2009, he was awarded the Swarovski Womenswear Designer of the Year Award and was praised for his outstanding tailoring skills. Later that year, Wang was also awarded the Swiss Textiles Award for tradition, innovation and creativity in promoting Swiss textiles, one of the worlds most prestige prizes for fashion design.
In 2010 Wang’s Fall/Winter Collection focused on the Wall Street theme taking the traditional office suit and deconstructing it with a very dark and sexy attitude. “It’s a lot more sophisticated and more polished,” Wang said. The collection included cropped blazers, tailcoats, vests and tailored pants, including gold detailing and opulent fabrics such as velvet. His 2010 Spring/Summer Collection was all about American tradition and culture filled with denim, khaki and football-inspired pieces. Wang stated: “I didn’t want it to be about the eighties or the nineties, I wanted it to be about classic American sportswear with an edge.” And that is exactly what Wang delivered; from sweatshirt material basics and cute striped knits to shoulder-padded sweatshirts and military inspired vests and shorts, showcasing the perfect preppy, sporty, look.
In 2011, Wang was awarded GQ’s Best New Menswear Designer of the Year Award and opened his first flagship store on Grand Street. Wang stated: “I’ve never really done a big statement on outerwear and I really wanted to take everything that you thought of in terms of anoraks, puffers, parkers, tuxedo jackets, cargos and reefer jackets and kind of combine them all together with this idea of poking fun at luxury and the dogma of rich bitch… It’s not precious and it’s not pretentious.”
Much to Wang’s cheer squad’s surprise, his 2011 Spring/Summer Collection did not centre on black as the dominant hue. In fact, black was non-existent in the collection, where he stated, “I was looking for something optimistic, something pure.” A series of appeasing shades of white, pumpkin and celadon were the key colours for the collection which ranged from carpenter’s jackets and pants, parachute dresses, pea coats, satin T-shirt dresses, scribble print pieces, knitted leggings and tank tops. The models were decorated with white paint lathered in their hair, fake nose rings and most of the garments contained some type of metallic foil detailing. Overall, the collection was a rather subtle contrast to his usual grunge basis and all-black ensembles but nonetheless resembled a fresh chic persona that could easily be worn by women.
In 2012, Wang was named the creative director of Balenciaga, becoming the first American designer in over a decade to run a heritage French name. By 2013, Wang enjoyed revenues of just over $100 million and operated 20 stores globally. In 2015, Wang opened its first stand-alone European store in London, which also concluded the largest overall store in his portfolio.
To read more about the incredible story of Alexander Wang and his climb to becoming one of America’s leading designers, check out FIB’s Masters of Fashion Vol 31, available now from Amazon and all good book stores: http://bit.ly/AmazonMastersofFashionVol31Americans