Ten years into its London Fashion Week game, FJU Talents is once again not interested in being beige. And we are more than thankful. Presented by Fu Jen Catholic University at Fashion Scout, the anniversary show mixed four current designers with names from the programme’s past. The result felt less like a neat retrospective and more like opening a very colourful family photo album where everyone has become progressively weirder.
And much better dressed.
Ting Hsuan Chang’s Cochlea was hard to ignore. Inspired by parasitised snails and ideas around belief and free will, it sounds terrifying on paper. On the body, it was strangely beautiful. Green knits swelled into huge organic shapes, outlined in black like alien anatomy. Another black look was covered in padded, shell-like forms. Part creature, part armour, part very fashionable infection. Exactly the sort of thing you want from a fashion show.
Then came YUI Kao’s Impulse Lover, where romance got the chaotic packaging it deserves. Kao treats lovers like products designed to be wanted, mixing oversized shapes and corsetry with the visual language of Taiwanese snacks. One look pushed that idea wonderfully far: an orange cap decorated with sequins, tubes and actual-looking beer cans, worn with bright green straps, blue sleeves and layers of embellished fabric. Dating apps could never.
Min-Hsin Yu went somewhere softer. Inspired by sunsets on Earth and Mars, Yu worked shifting colour into tactile, sculptural textiles. A huge fan-like piece moved from deep blue through icy aqua and cream before hitting a glowing orange edge. It looked somewhere between a sunset, a seashell and a piece of wearable landscape. Romantic, but not remotely sugary.
Alison Lai’s (She)nanigans brought a darker mood. Drawing on Twin Peaks and the female gaze, Lai played with deconstructed tailoring, black and white and flashes of red. One model appeared in a tiny black waistcoat and fragmented skirt, with striped fabric twisting around a hat and down the legs. Another wore black with dramatically long leather gloves. It had a slightly dangerous, after-midnight energy. Officewear, perhaps, if your office is inside a David Lynch film.
The anniversary element also made the point that FJU Talents is not simply about one afternoon on a London runway. Alumni including Xiaomo Chen, Zong Xing Liao, Timmy Chou, Shun An Chen and Chihwen Kuo show how many different directions can grow from the same platform. Lai herself makes that case neatly, returning seven years after her original 2019 selection with her own label.
There are plenty of serious ideas underneath it all: gender, desire, faith, control, identity and the body. But thankfully, the clothes don’t feel like homework.
After ten years, FJU Talents still seems most interesting when its designers ask difficult questions and answer them with something you desperately want to touch.
Happy birthday. Stay weird.
Words by Lewis Robert Cameron
Photography by Yuri Stuppia @yuriweaver__
Designers:
MIN-HSIN YU @yumin.world
YUI KAO @kaoyui0812
ALISON LAI @shenanigans.studio
TING HSUAN CHANG @thchang_design
10th Anniversary Designers:
ALISON LAI / FJU TALENTS 19 @shenanigans.studio
XIAOMO CHEN / FJU TALENTS 20 @xiao____mo
ZONG XING LIAO / FJU TALENTS 21 @stanleyliao
TIMMY CHOU / FJU TALENTS 22 @timmy_chouuuuu
SHUN AN CHEN / FJU TALENTS 24 @wearerottenstrawberries
CHIHWEN KUO / FJU TALENTS 25 @wayne_knitted
Production: Fashion Scout @fashionscout
PR: @i.deapr
Show Production: Paul Swaby @cult_of_fashion
Hair: Sally Beauty | UNITE Hair. Hair led by Narad Kutowaroo, UK Creative Director and Ambassador for UNITE Hair @naradkutowaroo @unite_hair_uk @sallybeautyuk
Make-up: AOFM Makeup Academy. Make-up led by Mandy Gakhal for AOFM Makeup Academy @mandygakhal @aofmakeup
Backstage Food: People Pleaser Salads @peoplepleasersalad
Steamers: Propress @propressuk
