Free-Flowing Speaks Volume
In the first week of November in Canada, Orange by Angela Chen is going to make its debut at Vancouver Fashion Week with its spring/summer 2010 collection. Black, white, and gray pervade this collection that is light, loose, and flowy.
In the first week of November in Canada, Orange by Angela Chen is going to make its debut at Vancouver Fashion Week with its spring/summer 2010 collection. Black, white, and gray pervade this collection that is light, loose, and flowy. Short, draped, striped, the dresses come in cotton jersey, cotton linen, and silk, incorporating a sense of spring that makes the wearer feel jaunty and sprightly. Born in Taiwan, raised in Vancouver, now living in New York, Chen launched her label, Orange, in July 2007 after graduating from Parsons the New School for Design.
It is never easy for emergent designers and Chen is no exception. The launch of her label was accompanied by a full-time job at a sweater licensing company. While it seemed tough, Chen managed to get her garments out to boutiques around New York such as Oak, Pretty Please Dear, and, more recently, Debut in SoHo on Mulberry Street.
A month ago, Chen finally quit her day job and began going full force for her brand. A one-woman show, Orange solely is managed by the designer herself, with a production team in Taiwan.
It was in Taiwan that she actually got inspired to become a fashion designer. Chen was living in Taiwan until she was 7. A vivid memory from possibly when she was 4 or 5 of her mother’s personal fashion show stays with her until today. Chen’s mother was not a designer, but she’s always been a great dresser in little Angela’s mind. Once she and her friends booked a restaurant and just hosted a private runway show for their family and friends.
“They would just wear different outfits, the ’80s, the big shoulder pads, the curly hair; they would just walk down this little path, and friends and family would clap. They put on a fun show,” Chen recalls. “It’s just being in that environment where all these women are just so confident walking down with this outrageous clothing, just, wow.”
This experience apparently has had a major influence on Chen, and fashion does run in the blood for some families. “I look up to her. She just always loves fashion. I got it from her.” This probably is what her design principle is based on, too, which is to “make a woman feel beautiful.”
Beautiful are the Orange collections despite the simple palettes. Without loud colors, Orange presents a look that is tender, minimal, and feminine. The silhouettes, seemingly carelessly outlined, are in fact meticulously constructed. Judging from the sizzling spring/summer ’10 collection that is about to meet the fashionistas in Vancouver, the designer appears to have a thing for dresses.
“In every woman’s closet, there has to be dresses,” Chen says. “When you think about it, in the summertime, when you put on a dress, you’re ready to go out. You don’t have to worry about mix and match, ‘Oh does these pants match with this shirt?’”
While Chen favors dresses, she shows up in harem pants and a leather jacket. What is the designer’s favorite outfit?
“Wow, you really can’t ask a designer that question because every day I feel different,” Chen says. “Today I feel like I want to feel a little more boyish ... Tomorrow I might feel like wearing a dress and [being] a lady.”
Having a creative mind that is constantly changing perhaps is a characteristic of all designers. Chen, for one, looks for her inspiration in ordinary or unexpected places, such as a fabric store, or just a passerby on the street.
“Just go to a fabric store and, ‘Oh my god I love this fabric’ and suddenly ideas would pop in my head like I should do this, do this, and do that, and then I would have a whole collection,” Chen says. “Sometimes it’s just a color, a very random color. Like a woman would wear mustard yellow, but it’s in a really weird yellow. That would inspire me too, to do a whole collection. So just everywhere, everywhere I look, it can just trigger.”
Chen just returned from Boston Fashion Week and is getting everything ready for next month’s Vancouver Fashion Week. As 2009 is coming toward an end, and 2010 is around the corner, does the designer have time to prepare for next season’s Orange?
“Now I’m trying to make a couple of more show pieces for the Vancouver Fashion Week,” Chen says, “so I have to get that going before I really sit down, lock myself in a room, and start designing.”
Well, Angela Chen may not have time just yet to figure out Orange’s next look. But we are excited about seeing more Orange pieces in the future that are original and inspiring.
(Photo credit: Angela Chen)
