In The Studio: Jenn Lee: Taiwan fashion designer

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2023

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Taipei based fashion designer Jenn Lee is preparing her Spring Summer 2024 collection for London and Taipei Fashion Weeks. Inspired by the recycled materials she finds in local markets, by British designer Vivienne Westwood and the Punk movement, as well as the joy of her young son, the collection celebrates freedom, happiness and sustainability.

Jenn is joined in her Taipei studio by Lucy Collingwood as she reaches the final stages of a collection that’s been many months in the making. Surrounded by sewing machines and a snooker table repurposed into a large fabric cutting table. Jenn shares her influences and attention to detail – from the running order of her catwalk show, finalising the looks on mannequins, to adding handmade accessories made of recycled zips and ribbons and choosing which eye catching creation should kick start the show.

Jenn takes us to one of the places that informs her work, the Fu He Bridge Flea Market, where items from used bicycle chains to second hand motorbike jackets can end up as integral parts of her high end garments.

For the catwalks of fashion weeks, Jenn is also planning something a little unusual. As well as her striking garments made in bold colours and hand-dyed fabrics, she’s also creating a digital version of her designs and collaborating on a game featuring characters who embody the themes behind her show.

We share Jenn’s creative journey from Taipei to backstage at her London Fashion Week catwalk show as the audience reacts as her collection is finally revealed.

Producer: Lucy Collingwood Exec Producer: Andrea Kidd

(Photo: Jen Lee. Credit: BBC)

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's like driving a car under an avalanche, but you're taunting the avalanche rather than trying to get away from it
0:08.5	Amazing sports stories from the BBC World Service
0:13.0	Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:18.0	Taipei-based fashion designer Jen Lee
0:21.0	is known for her innovation, embracing technology in her shows and using recycled materials in her creations.
0:29.0	Flea markets always inspire me a lot when I go to different places. I always try to find a free market and I always try to find a flea market and I love this kind of very local vibe.
0:41.0	In her Taipei studio Jen and her team experiment with different
0:45.8	textures and dyeing techniques turning secondhand items into couture.
0:51.1	Everything is made in our studio because I'm a control freak so I will like to see
0:58.6	all the samples rather than sending out. You're listening to the documentary in the studio from the BBC World Service.
1:07.0	I'm Lucy Collingwood and I'm following Jen Lee
1:10.0	as she prepares her spring summer 24 collection for the prestigious London and Taipei fashion weeks.
1:17.0	From her studio in Taiwan to backstage at her Catwap show,
1:21.0	as her collection is revealed to the world for the first time.
1:25.0	Inspired by the UK's punk scene by the British designer Vivian Westwood and the wildness of nature, Jen's designs have an edgy and rebellious feel.
1:35.7	But for her latest collection Jen is taking inspiration from closer to home.
1:41.3	I have a two yearyear-old son and I feel when we grow up
1:46.7	it's very difficult to be happy all the time but when I see my son I feel he is so easily happy, so this pureness is what I am looking
1:58.2	for at a moment.
2:00.0	So this collection is about the happiness.
2:07.0	I've come to new Taipei City in Taiwan, over the river from Central Taipei,
2:09.0	where Jen has her studio.
	...

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