The Designer with an Artistic Flare: Alexander Wang
On December 26th, 1983, a Taiwanese genius was born. Alexander Wang entered the fashion scene just at the age of 19, when he moved to New York City to attend the Parsons School of Design. It was during this time that Wang had interned for Teen Vogue, where he learned plenty about editing and the skills it takes to grow a refined eye. In 2004, after completing two years at Parsons, he decided to pursue something that had been in his mind for a while, and finally take the plunge. He wanted to launch his own fashion label. Two years later, Wang presented a complete women’s ready-to-wear knitwear collection on the New York Fashion Week catwalk for the first time. Just within one year of that catwalk, he won the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund which noticeably came with a bonus to expanding a new comer’s business. All this success that had quickly come his way called for his first handbag collection, and later T by Alexander Wang for a men’s collection. Now, having expanded his line to include a full range of ready-to-wear pieces, from distressed boyfriend jeans and shrunken vests to, covetable cozy cardigans, Wang has continued to show how powerful his vision truly is with his signature "model-off-duty" style. With a growing cult embracing his street-smart approach to dressing—including catwalk queens and downtown dwellers alike—Wang may just be the coolest kid in Manhattan.
Today, his lines are stocked globally in over 700 stores including some of the top luxury stores, like Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Dover Street Market, and Net-a-Porter. Some may question how or why Wang rose to immediate success as fast as he did, but one look at his pieces will answer that for all skeptics. Wang is undoubtedly known for his urban designs. He predominantly uses the color black in most of his collections, and it’s no surprise just how dedicated black-lovers are to their all-black closets. But there’s more to this designer than his color choices. His tailoring skills are impeccable, with his precise cuts and details on each of his garments.
In 2012, Women’s Wear Daily reported that Wang has been named Creative Director at Balenciaga after Nicolas Ghesquiere departed from the French house. “As Creative Director for Balenciaga, Alexander Wang oversees the Women’s and Men’s ready-to-wear and accessories lines. His debut Fall-Winter 2013 Balenciaga collection took place in February 2013, at the historic Balenciaga salons located at 10 avenue George V, Paris, 75008. Just after three years of the announcement being made, a press release was issued in July of 2015 stating that Wang will be leaving Balenciaga. This was reported to be a mutual decision.
In 2014 it was announced that Alexander Wang would be the next designer to create a collection for Swedish based fashion retailer H&M. H&M has been known to work with some of the industry’s biggest names and do collaborations that can be available only for a limited time. Some of these collaborations include Isabel Marant, Balmain, and Kenzo. The collection was available at H&M stores and online in November of that year. The collection with H&M included pieces for both men and women, as well as a selection of his famed accessories. The news was unveiled via the designer’s personal Instagram page. In true Alexander Wang style, the news being made public via social media made perfect sense because of how relevant this designer stays on Instagram. He’s commonly known for posting relevant memes. What designer in this day and age can joke around enough to do that? It’s no secret how humble Alexander Wang has stayed throughout his entire journey. Maybe that’s the reason why in 2015, he was included in the Times 100 Most Influential People of 2015. Wang continues to break boundaries, and not only in the fashion world. His ever-growing group of fans continue to support him through all his ventures. Wherever Wang goes, his people go with him.