Marquee artist
“In fact, I never ever imagined that I would one day work as a professional in the world of fashion,” says Andre, a Paiwan Aborigine from Taitung County, “I just did what I did, but there was no ‘grand design’ behind it. Everything that has happened has just unfolded.”
Coming from a very poor family, as the eldest son Andre was under an obligation to contribute to the family income. Therefore, during the first semester of his first year in junior high school, he took a leave of absence and headed off to Taipei to find a job. He ended up working as a painter for old-fashioned movie billboards. “As a result, the person who I was then had very little book learning, but I had seen a lot of movies.”
However, the business of producing painted movie billboards had long been in decline, and Andre needed some alternatives. In any case, he was already realizing that he had bigger dreams. He decided to get more professional training of a practical nature, but first he had to go through a period of studying hard on his own to acquire an equivalency certification for a junior high school diploma. Then he tested into Fu-Hsin Trade & Arts School, and graduated from its department of drawing and painting with the highest grades in his class. Even more extraordinary is that virtually all of the works he produced while in school were bought up by art collectors.
While still studying at Fu-Hsin, Andre took a job as a window display designer at a department store. “This job gave me simultaneous training in both aesthetics and business, because window display is not just a variation on installation art—it has to have a marketing effect, it has to make consumers want to buy the products they see arranged in the window display.” He says that what he learned during this phase of his life would prove extremely valuable when he later decided to found his own brand.
After completing his compulsory military service, Andre relates, “I began to more seriously consider my future. I was continually asking myself, are there any other possibilities for my life?” He wanted to go back to school and learn more, to build a stronger foundation for himself. Building on what he had studied at Fu-Hsin, he initially aspired to take the exam to enter the Department of Communications Design at Shih Chien. It was only when he arrived at the university to register that he discovered that the Department of Communications Design had no evening classes. For Andre, who needed to work and earn money during the day, this was a real disappointment. However, the person who was handling the registration process suggested to him that he could study clothing design instead, because that department did offer evening classes.
After going back to high school, Andre got his basic training in drawing and painting. He still sketches every one of his fashion creations before proceeding to the cutting and sewing.