William Tang
Fashion designer, writer and social commentator William Tang‘s career has spanned 25 years—and he’s nowhere near done. From designing his namesake label to consulting for big brands, he’s always got a project up his sleeve. He tells Adele Wong about taking inspiration from the King of Kowloon, and getting into the industry at the right time.
I was born and brought up in Hong Kong in the New Territories. I went to Kingston, Ontario for high school. I graduated and took economics for my first degree in Canada, then went over to London, England to study my second degree in fashion design.
I had no intention to do fashion design at all to start with. I just loved drawing. I’ve loved drawing all my life. I wanted to do something related to drawing and the creative field.
Before I finished high school, I really wanted to do fine arts, but my family advised me to do something more academic to start with. When I look back, they made a very good decision. Economics was a very good foundation for me.
Before my graduation I had to decide the way to go. I wanted to do architecture,but I thought fashion design would beeasier. Just because of that, I decided to go to London.
My latest project: Marks & Spencer in Hong Kong wanted me to design a bag for their 25th anniversary. The first thing I thought was “rice,” because in Hong Kong they call the Union Jack mai tse kei, or “rice character flag,” since the pattern looks like the Chinese character for rice. [The bag incorporates rice kernels onto the Union Jack.]
I’m [also] writing a book about the old days in Yuen Long.