Advocate for your Passion in Fashion and at Work
- Lea Chen
- Jan 27, 2018
- 4 min read
Who: Lindsey Lui, previous Vice Chair of Constituent Affairs of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition
[In her eyes]
Have you found that your Asian background and identity influences your decision-making in fashion choices, whether personally or in your experiences as a buyer? I'm slowly learning that my Asian background and identity play a part in everything that I do, but in terms of fashion, I think my ethnicity plays a more subtle influence. Professionally, I think a lot about cultural appropriation and Asian fetishization in fashion. Maybe two years ago or so, embroidered bombers were really in and many of them had traditional East Asian imagery on them. I remember my friend, Esul, and I discussing whether or not we'd be betraying our cultures if we bought one. The exoticization of the East by the West has deep roots in history and imperialism, and I don't know if I have the right answer as to how fashion can honor culture without otherizing it and commodifying it to make a profit. Personally, I believe that a lot of what I've chosen to wear over my life has indirectly related to my ethnicity and very directly related to my body image. Like many cultures, Asian cultures put a strong emphasis on beauty standards: from skin color to eye lids, and for me, this pressure has manifested itself most strongly in my weight and the size clothing that I wear. Post-puberty I gained significantly wider hips and thicker legs and arms than I had had previously, and this had an effect on the clothes I thought I was able to wear. Anything too tight would accentuate parts of myself that I'd want to hide. Anything that cinched at the waist would highlight my hips. Anything too cropped or too long would either cut off or drown my legs. Certain dresses would fit me everywhere but catch on my hips, making the rest of the fabric bunch or pool around my upper body. Certain shirts would be too tight in the armholes. I was and still am far from the classic slim Asian ideal of beauty. However, over time, I've come to embrace that I am my own ideal of beauty and the things that I wear should reflect that. It's still incredibly frustrating to see an item of clothing in a window and know immediately that it would never fit me properly, but I'm learning that that's ok.
Who are other Asian trailblazers in fashion that inspire you that others may not know?
Recently, I've been really inspired by Humberto Leon and Carol Kim, the founders of Opening Ceremony and Creative Directors of Kenzo. To me, Opening Ceremony really embodies the very core of fashion: merging the margins, the very roots of fashion, by bringing high fashion and streetwear together. A close second goes to Laura Kim, the co-founder of Monse and Creative Director of Oscar de la Renta. I think it's easy to pick out a key designer from history as your fashion role model or inspiration, but for me, it's the people who think outside the box, who have the sharp instincts to put together not only a collection but also a business.
What advice do you have for others in figuring out how to recognize a passion that is worth pursuing professionally? And then what are the steps to pursue that career choice when there aren’t as many resources available (like fashion careers as a Penn student)? I always say that whatever you find yourself doing in your free time is your true passion in life. I want to take a minute to acknowledge that not everyone can follow their passions and being able to do so comes from a place of privilege. Some people don't get to prioritize their dreams because they have to put a roof over their heads and food in their mouths or support their families. I see this a lot with Asian Americans, especially those who are first generation. I know my parents certainly sacrificed a lot to allow me to pursue my dreams. That being said, I believe that the most important thing anyone could ever be in life is happy. If possible, you should listen to yourself, and if you think that happiness lies in a certain career path, follow it because there is no one else who can just give it to you. At Penn, it's hard to pursue your happy; there often aren't a lot of resources for it. The fact of the matter is if you want to pursue something that's non-traditional, you have to dig for it. You have to be proactive in searching every career page of every company you're even remotely interested in and sending in applications even when your perfect job isn't there. You have to be organized and keep a spreadsheet because when everyone is OCRing, you'll be waiting it out for all the companies you're interested in to open their applications months down the line and there's nothing worse than realizing you accidentally missed a deadline. You have to be creative in the applications and resumes you send in: maybe your app is a video or an interactive art piece, maybe your resume is a paper crane the recruiters have to unfold. You have to be perseverant because it's easy to get disheartened. I know that maybe that's not a reality any of us want to hear, but it's the truth. The two things you need most are: courage and heart, everything else you can learn along the way.
Photographed & captured by blvd eye while documenting the style of street. A collaboration with the Asian Pacific Student Coalition at the University of Pennsylvania.
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