interview by Kim Shveka
photographs by Jasmin Avner
With her FW26 collection, designer Jen-Fang Shueh of Jenny Fax gives shape to the feeling of time passing. Consumed by this sensation, Shueh found herself reflecting on the power of personal memory as our last bastion of unique chaos; a place before algorithms, where our identities are mapped only by our family trees. Crafting her memories into the room, she made every visitor feel the warmth of her home while keeping her codes of color and whimsical silhouettes. The presentation unfolded like a living photo album, the models appearing as if revived from framed memories sitting on a shelf. In a moment of consensual voyeurism, the audience witnessed personal creation in its most raw form.
KIM SHVEKA: The atmosphere is reminiscent of your last presentation in October. What is this internal place that you draw from in your creations?
JEN-FANG SHUEH: It comes from my own life. It’s about family reunion, like at Christmas when you see a bunch of relatives you haven’t seen in two years or so. Family is that place you can’t choose, you were just born there. Sometimes it can be interesting, the dynamics between everyone, someone can be very close, and sometimes the opposite. With this presentation, I just wanted to show a lot of different characters. I’ve been trying to think what makes a difference between me and any other brand, and I realized I am actually very old, (laughs) and I tried to see how I can make myself different from the rest. Personal memory is what makes the difference; it’s far from AI or social media; there’s nothing used to calculate it, personal memory is chaotic and unique, and there’s no pattern.
SHVEKA: You emphasized the fact that we can’t choose the family we were born into.
Are you happy about yours?
SHUEH: I think it's really difficult to say if you are happy or not. There’s always something happening in the family, and somehow it can make you strong. I know I became a really strong person because of my family.
SHVEKA: The clothes are very whimsical, very light and airy, everything feels like a fairy tale. Do you use those as a way to reflect, or rebel in your personal memory?
SHUEH: I was looking from pictures of my past. You can see there a model dressed all in white, she’s reflecting my mother. I was looking through pictures and photo albums, and I found her always in this kind of style, this sort of white pyjama. In many photos, my parents were having fun, goofing around— that was the starting point for this collection.
SHVEKA: The way you do presentations is very special. You really convey a certain atmosphere of mystery, but also familiarity. Would you ever consider doing a fashion show?
SHUEH: I think the position we have right now fits my budget and also allows me to be free. I can do anything I want within a given space and time.
SHVEKA: Do you feel more freedom when you can direct life?
SHUEH: It’s always interesting when something happens in your life, and you have to act on that.
SHVEKA: Do you sometimes feel blocked when you think of ideas for your next shows?
SHUEH: This always happens. I’m not really a good character designer, and I’m also not very logical. For example, this is a fall/winter collection, but I had no ideas about designing for the cold. That’s why everything’s so light. I just thought, winter also exists on the inside.
