Blending old and new
In 1997, Lin returned to Taiwan and took a position as a lecturer in fashion design at Shih Chien University. He also continued seeking inspiration in historical Chinese clothing and accessories. For example, he printed all of the massive painting Going Upriver on the Qingming Festival on the fabric he used for his clothing line of the same name, and gave his "Ancestral Images" line a bold and avant-garde look by putting portraits of emperors on the tops.
He's also used ideas that relate to contemporary everyday life. In July 2000, at the invitation of the Environmental Protection Administration and the Taipei Computer Association, Lin presented pieces at a show highlighting recycling and the environment, including clothing and tall boots decorated with keys from discarded keyboards. In December of the same year, he presented his Red Cliffs line at a show sponsored by the Textile Research and Development Association International. The fabric he used for the line included a striking decorative pattern-the text of Song poet Su Shi's "Red Cliffs" rendered in Su's own calligraphy.
Lin loves browsing antiques shops, and a shop window full of fine sculptures-temple carvings of people, landscapes, birds and flowers that fell into the hands of dealers when the temples were renovated or torn down-served as the inspiration for his blending of traditional wood carving with high fashion. To create form-fitting tops, he had to persuade his models to let him make plaster casts of their bodies, then talk wood carvers into sculpting them using traditional techniques. For the introduction of the Lotus line in 2003, he delighted the audience by having his models carry lotus leaves carved from wood on their shoulders.
Already a topic of discussion for his use of new materials and his incorporation of design elements from other fields, Lin brought something entirely new to the runway in 2007 with the introduction of his Mazu line at the FUSE Fashion Week. The line featured not only cute Mazu dolls and contemporary super mini-suits, but also tops decorated with images of the goddess's head. Though reactions to the line varied, it was inarguably the first to blend high fashion and Taiwanese folk religion.
Lin went for a "young Chinese" look with his Tao Collection, introduced in 2006. The name comes from the Dao De Jing, which describes the dao (also spelled tao) as something vibrant, inclusive, and filled with possibilities. Eschewing the qipao of the old gentry and the folk customs beloved by the literati, Lin took the collection in a new direction. He aimed it at young people, hoping to interest them in clothing featuring distinctively Chinese elements such as frog fasteners and cloud patterns.
In 2007, Lin established his Western clothing concepts studio, which focuses on Western clothing and party dresses. Intrigued by his unique grasp of the feminine, a number of female stars have hired him to design clothes just for them. He is direct and cutting when commenting on celebrity couture, which has made his fashion pronouncements as much a hot topic in celebrity circles as his creations.
Cutting edge fashion designer Lin Goji also happens to have Taiwan's largest collection of Barbie dolls and accessories. (photo by Chuang Kung-ju)