Giving Fashion Digital Wings:

A daughter of painter Wang Ren-jye and fashion designer Hsu Chiu-i, Wang grew up steeped in art. With her passion for beauty and her quirky, imaginative spirit, she has explored numerous paths as a “slashie” professional—working as a makeup artist and beauty influencer, and even holding art exhibitions alongside her family.

Tech making fashion greener

It was almost by chance that she established her own brand. She explains that before the beginning of the pandemic in 2019, cross-border mashups of fashion and digital technology were still rare. On a whim, she thought, “Why not try combining the two?” Thus the Claudia Wang brand was born.

Yet, in her brand, the use of digital technology is not merely a display of technology for technology’s sake. The fashion world is often criticized for its massive consumption of resources. By utilizing technology, fashion can become a little greener. “We’ve made two trial changes,” says Wang, “one in production and the other in display.”

In traditional garment manufacturing, producers often have to sacrifice a lot of fabric to ensure that patterns are perfectly aligned. But Claudia Wang has been able to fully digitize the prototyping process to reduce fabric waste. Complex hand-drawn designs are first printed onto the fabric using 3D pattern-making technology before moving to offline production.

For consumers, meanwhile, she has launched virtual clothing displays, making use of 3D technology to give virtual garments the same flowing movements as real clothes. Furthermore, she has adopted on-demand manufacturing, only beginning production after an order is placed. It is a much more precise and economical approach.

Born into an artistic family, Claudia Wang is a true multitalented creative “slashie,” working as a makeup artist and beauty influencer, showing art in exhibitions with her family, and founding her eponymous fashion label.

In Claudia Wang’s digitized sampling process, her hand-drawn designs are applied to fabrics via 3D modeling. Since physical production only begins after digital prep, this approach drastically reduces material waste.

Boldly bringing digital technology to fashion, Wang uses virtual garments to showcase her finished designs. Production only starts once a consumer places an order.

Vibrant colors, bold prints, and hand-painted floral and animal motifs are signatures of the Claudia Wang brand.

Wang collaborated with Daddy Studio to utilize digital modeling and 3D printing to create bows with a diamond-plate texture. The design creates a visual tension between a cold, hard industrial aesthetic and an ethereal lightness.

Broadening fashion’s digital horizons

Claudia Wang’s Spring/Summer 2022 collection, “Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream,” marked the brand’s runway debut. The groundbreaking event was held at AMBI Space One, an immersive multifunctional exhibition space located in Taipei 101.

Ever playful, Wang worked with Fengshui Vision to combine hybrid-reality, motion-capture, and immersive-­projection technologies. Live models shared the runway with three virtual models.

For her Autumn/Winter 2022 collection, she further partnered with Digital Domain, a Hollywood powerhouse for visual effects. Once again leveraging mixed reality, AI, real-time rendering, and motion capture, she brought the legendary diva Teresa Teng and the virtual metaverse idol Eve to grace the fashion runway together.

She has also been a pioneer in integrating NFTs and blockchain technology with fashion. 

It may well have been this courage to push the boundaries of fashion that earned her an invitation from the Tate Modern in London not even three years after founding her brand. Her fashion show there was held at The Tanks, an exhibition space typically reserved for fashion powerhouses such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry.

Vivid colors, bold prints, and hand-drawn floral and animal motifs are the signatures of the Claudia Wang brand. Through the seamless integration of digital technology, Wang has been able to blur the lines between reality and illusion in creating a fantastical and beautiful imaginary world. 

Less than three years after the brand’s launch, Claudia Wang was invited by the Tate Modern in London to unveil her Spring/Summer 2024 collection at the exhibition space The Tanks.