Who Is Wang?

By: Catalina Escobar 

Taiwanese- American designer and icon Alexander Wang was born on 26th December, 1983 in San Francisco, California. Throughout his art many odems intertwining diffrent parts of his culture are seen. As seen below, his pop up store in Miami's very own design district is a prime example of this. Exhibiting a full sized queen crystal mesh pronged bed at the center of the store, vibrant red throughout the interior and exterior, as well as asian inspired decorations on the rooftop of the building , Alex is making sure to let the world know that he is coming in hot. 

Early Childhood and Evolution

In his early childhood, he studied at the Harker School elementary and primary education . Then he went to Stevens High School to complete grade nine. Later, he went to Drew School and when he turned eighteen, Wang moved to Parsons The New School For Design in New York for two years. In efforts to pursue real world experience, he worked as an intern at magazines like Vogue and Teen Vogue to obtain knowledge in the fashion industry. Additionally, he served as an apprentice for Derek Lam and Marc Jacobs. After becoming conscious of his potential, the young designer left Parsons to pursue his dream of starting his own company, launching a line of cashmere sweaters as his first "line", showcasing six unisex silhouettes. Wang's first public unofficial show took place at his brother's wedding where he designed thirty-five outfits for his sister-in-law. Opening his own brand under the infamous name "Alexander Wang" in 2005, he showed his first full women's ready to wear collection which was shown for the first time at New York Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2007. Shortly After the brand launched, in 2008, Wang recieved the CFDA/Vogue fashion Fund which awards $200,000 to help fund expansion, which he utilized to produce and release his first handbag collection. The following year Wang received the CFDA Fashion award, Swarovski Womenswear Designer of the year award and the list goes on from there.

 Now more than 650 stores worldwide, including Net-A-Porter, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, The Webster, and Barneys New York, carry Alexander Wang's collections. Aditionally Wang now has more than 15 boutiques across the globe, in addition to an online website that ships to more than 50 nations. In addition to his Soho Flagship store which he opened in 2011, Alex's future U.S expansion plans are in full monument with his pop up in Miami, as well as plans to open a permanent location at the center of Miamis luxury fashion hub.

Alex's biggest inspiration comes from turning ordinary into extraordinary and he focuses on incorporating a lot of basics into his idea of luxury. Experimenting with the idea of denim, many of his designs upcycle the idea of the typical denim jean silhouette. Boxers under jeans playing in reference to "Hip Hop" culture, two toned jeans exhibiting denim in the front and nylon fabric in the back, zipper pockets, and more. American lifestyle and culture is a huge inspiration for Wang as well as infamous American designer Ralph Lauren. "He does luxury, but you can get a polo shirt at Costco," Wang told WWD. Even though Costco and high fashion seem to be world apart, that is the reality of American consumerism. Wang acknowledges Lauren's impact on American fashion nonetheless, stating, "I don't think anyone else portrays that idea (of American lifestyle living) better than Ralph can."

More about american and asian motifs

Playing onto this grocery store motif, his new body wear line is heavily inspired by the idea of supermarket objects. The packaging of clothing made to mock the silhouettes of milk cartons, cereal boxes and chip bags, can be seen inside a big red refrigerator exhibited in the Miami Design District Pop up. 

Image of Fridge of pop up 

In the media, controversy aside, Alex has done an enormous amount of efforts to be as authentic, raw, and creatively exciting to his loyal consumer base as possible. Offering inclusivity in price ranges as well as constant brand partnerships and collars to allow more commercialization of his coveted fashion pieces to the regular middle class consumer, Alex knows what the people want, how to deliver it, and most importantly hw to market and sell it effectively.