华裔设计师 (Fashion Designers) 在美国时尚圈崛起 吹中国风

信源：侨报网｜编辑：2012-07-06

在美国时尚发展史中，华裔设计师属于异类，绝非主流。不过，这一情况现在正逐渐转变。无论是“第一夫人”米歇尔.奥巴马选择华裔设计师吴季刚的服饰作为就职舞会的“御用”服装，还是时尚杂志中频频出现的王大仁专版，无疑都展现出华裔设计师在纽约时尚圈中的地位。

据 Hyphen Magazine ** 报道，作为后起之秀，珍妮赖(音译)将这些设计大师视为敬仰的对象，但绝非效仿的身影。对于赖而言，她更愿意演绎自己独特的风格。

赖的发展以纽约为基点，现在正准备带着她的名牌“非”(NOT)进军亚洲市场。在她的第一季设计中，她的服装在纽约大获好评，很多人向其反馈说她的服装一定会在亚洲获得成功。正因为如此，赖才决定前往台湾和香港进行市场调查，与中国时尚圈内的人进行交流，也更好地理解了中国时尚界。

赖在加州长大，在罗德岛读书，是个在美国土生土长的华人。尽管如此，她的设计理念更多的来自中国，而非美国。赖认为美国消费者过于保守，时尚正在向商务和运动两个方向发展，而她个人更倾向于亚洲设计师的时尚概念，也在不断向之努力。

在第一季设计推出后，有评论称赖的设计是典型的“亚洲风”。赖称，这令人惊讶，尽管她自小接受的是中国传统文化和教育，但这种影响是潜移默化的，她也从未发现这会体现在设计概念中。随着其接到越来越多的类似评论，赖开始正视这一点，也开始以亚洲人身材比例和特点为设计方向。

之后，赖开始了中国之旅，与当地时尚界人士进行交流，他们根据她的作品给出了相当中肯的意见，使其更能融入中国市场。赖称，较中国同行相比，她的设计更细腻，会在中国市场获得成功，她希望下一步可以去上海出席一些时尚秀。

“华裔设计师正逐渐走上美国时尚界的舞台，过去五年来，以吴季刚、王大仁为代表的华裔设计师成为时尚圈冉冉升起的新星，这很出乎意料。我相信华裔设计师现在正经历前所未有的发展良机。”赖如此表示。

不过，赖并不想追随这些着名设计师的脚步。她称，“我很钦佩王大仁可以在短时间内声名鹊起，成为运动和奢侈品市场的佼佼者。但我希望能拥有自己的特色，而不是成为谁的追随者。”

** The Story of Hyphen

http://www.hyphenmagazine.com

 In 2002, spurred by the shuttering of a.Magazine, a small group of 20-and-30-something journalists and artists got together to fill the void by envisioning the kind of magazine we always wanted to read: a publication that would go beyond celebrity interviews and essays about discovering our roots, which we found a long time ago, thank-you-very-much.

We began meeting around a kitchen table in San Francisco that spring, and over snacks and beer, a vision slowly emerged. The magazine wouldn't flinch at covering serious issues, but also wouldn't take itself too seriously. It would cover Asian Americans in Texas, Kansas and Minnesota, not just the critical mass living in California and New York. It would feature emerging artists, thinkers and doers, not only the few established Asian Americans who'd gotten mainstream approval. It would be a magazine that looked beyond identity -- we'd explore cultural issues while tackling what is Asian American by accident, by tangent or by happenstance.

Our early efforts were infectious. Those at the first meeting told a few friends, and the gatherings quickly outgrew the kitchen table. During a year's worth of after-work meetings, we developed the publication's voice, elected leaders, debated content, threw (fundraising) parties, fought among ourselves and eventually learned to work together. A pair of staff members even fell in love and got married -- all stuff worthy of a reality TV show.

Starting a magazine from scratch with zero funds is no easy task. But we were made mighty by bowls of Spam and kimchi over rice. Inspired by the passion and dedication that we saw in each other, and energized by the hi-jinks that ensue when you spend too many hours with the same people in enclosed spaces, we marched -- steadily if improbably -- toward the publication of our first issue.

Hyphen issue 1, which paid tribute to Asian American activism, was published in June 2003. The cover depicted a woman sitting on a stack of suitcases by the side of a road, just under a sign that read, "Welcome to Asian America, Population 11 Million." Since then, our numbers have grown to 15.5 million. And in tackling issues of culture and community with substance and sass, Hyphen has also flourished, becoming a media must for savvy Asian Americans.

The Asian American landscape has changed since we published our first issue, and we are proud that Hyphen has been a part of the dialogue. When we started Hyphen, we didn't know that we would create such a far-reaching community. When we first gathered around that kitchen table, it was simply because we were driven by a hunger for a more complex representation of Asian America. And when none presented itself, we decided to do it ourselves.