There is always going to be that luxury customer out there. I have clients who buy $10,000 dresses and clients who buy $60 dresses. It's not so much about the money. Design is a mentality.
I am an Asian designer. I was born in Taiwan. That is who I am. But I am a designer, like any designer of any race. Growing up in the '80s in Taiwan, the arts were not considered a career.
The way my mom dressed was one of my earliest inspirations, in those '80s suits with shoulder pads and things like that. For years, I ran away from that style. But now, all I want to do is shoulder pads and nipped-in waists and padded hips and peplums and poufed dresses.
I think clothing is transformative. When you put something really beautiful on, you feel something. In so many ways, were always playing a form of dress-up - its just a grown-up, much chicer version of it. Its nice to be able to be whoever you want to be.
It's nice to be able to be whoever you want to be. I moved to New York for that reason. I think I am a very good example of how you really can do whatever you want to do without having any kind of prerequisite experience of any of kind of connection. None of my family members came from this world.
My parents are very comfortable with the way that I am, and I think they've always been. Without that, I don't think that I would have ever have been able to grow into the person that I am today. I never felt like I was hiding anything from them.