Vivienne Tam - Fashion designer
Strong women have always inspired colourful fashion designer Vivienne Tam Yin-yok, but none more so than her mother. 'I always watched her making her own clothes when I was growing up,' she says.
'We didn't have money to buy new clothes, so we made our own. My mother always used to tell me that it was very special to make your own clothes, how unique it was and how no one else in the world had it. That's why I make my own clothes - you can create your own identity.'
Born in Canton (now Guangzhou), Tam moved to Hong Kong at the age of three, and later attended Hong Kong Polytechnic (now Polytechnic University), where she studied fashion.
After graduating and realising her options as a designer were limited in Hong Kong, she decided to try her luck in New York.
'When I told my mother I wanted to leave, she told me to go. Even though she was a very traditional Chinese mother, she was very open-minded. She always said, 'make your own destiny',' she says. Tam's road to success wasn't smooth initially, as her Chinese background meant she wasn't taken seriously by retailers.
Yet, with a strong sense of ambition and determination inherited from her mother, Tam finally broke into the fashion world in New York. 'When I would call and say I am a Chinese designer from Hong Kong people would be shocked - they thought that there were only manufacturers there,' Tam explains.
'But I never gave up because I didn't want to. When people say things like that, you have to prove it to them even more that you are capable,' she says. 'Any time I got an appointment, I would jump at the opportunity. Once it was snowing and I had to show my spring collection, so I wore this Mao jacket on top with my spring line, including shorts underneath, and just went for it.'
Once she got her foot in the door, success came quickly. Tam launched her label in 1994 and immediately generated lots of buzz with her East-meets-West style, or what she likes to refer to as 'China Chic'.
While many of her collections have been influential, the one that put her on the map was her controversial Mao line that featured images of Mao Zedong. Select pieces are still on show at museums around the world.
'So many manufacturers didn't believe in what I was doing - they thought no one would buy it and that [my message] was too political,' she says. 'Customs would seize my goods and the shirts were banned in China. But eventually, they were copied everywhere and the response was incredible.'
Tam considers her work as art - a point of communication and a way of expressing herself. 'Don't think about any limitations as a designer,' she says. 'Always challenge yourself and break through the barriers without fear.'
Today, Tam's empire continues to grow as she expresses herself through different outlets, whether it's creating a yoga line, designing a computer for Hewlett-Packard or developing a bridal line.
The secret to surviving in such a fickle industry, she says, is to do what you love, above everything else.
'I really truly love what I am doing and it's part of my life. I never thought about being a success or not, it happened [naturally]. I am so grateful people love what I am doing - if you put your heart into what you are doing, you will always make a connection with people.'
Tam advises young designers to always think about newness and how to improve.
'Understand what's happening in the world, keep fresh and learn how to evolve yourself and the business.'
