A man or woman, a big, cool 'McDrink' at hand, sits there for a long time, sketching pedestrians. To be more precise, he or she is setting down design inspirations drawn from the appearances of passersby. A soft pencil and sketch-book are their easy clues to identity.
To catch new fashion trends 'in the making', these designers have chosen an excellent vantage. The rise of the Tung Chu (East District) as a new Taipei business center has also made the area very fashionable. Naturally, McDonald's is right at the core of the new activity.
In recent years, commercial activities in the Tung Chu have gradually begun to rival the old, still crowded and prosperous downtown shopping center—Hsimenting. Today, the Tung Chu has established an image as an up-pocket, adult shopping district, while Hsimenting has gradually become a teenager’s shopping area, flaunting the latest Japanese student styles.
The loose designation, Tung Chu, is generally taken as that area bounded by Chunghsiao East Road on the north, Jenai Road to the south, Kuanghu South Road on the east, and Fuhsing South Road westward.
The district was originally a purely residential area with up-class homers; its land area is among the most expensive in Taipei.
Various trading companies and commercial agencies first began setting up offices in the trendy new high-rises of the Tung Chu. The large number of affluent office people, added to the original residents, concentrated very attractive purchasing capabilities that induced a flowering of new shops and department stores.
Among the notable advantages of this new business center is that its offices and residences provide a continuing parade of passing consumers from morning till night. And others come here from all over, not only to shop, but to enjoy a "particular aristocratic atmosphere", as one local magazine put it.
Fashion is the draw for the biggest group of Tung Chu shops. Indeed, any dress manufacturer, wholesaler, or fashion designer that wants to maintain a position in local fashion circles must establish at least one bastion in the Tung Chu, since it has gradually assumed the fashion leadership in Taiwan.
To accommodate the different pocketbook capabilities of the great crowds of ambulating customers, eager shops offering sharply differing styles coexist everywhere in the Tung Chu, their stocks ranging from bargain 'export garments' to the classiest dresses and international brands.
In the earliest growth phase, the most popular and eye-catching of the clothing stores were concentrated in the underground Ai Chun Market—more than 50 stands, still very much in business, now specialize in discount goods and the standard clothing styles. Compared to the newer, more trendy and luxurious stores, Ai Chun now seems a bit out of place in the developing mode of Tung Chu.
The phase that actually underwrote the prosperity of the Tung Chu was the proliferation in recent years of the so-called 'export garment' stores.
Seven years ago, when Madame's opened for business behind the Acme Supermarket on Chunghsiao East Road, the attractive decorations, large stock, and inexpensive prices immediately made it a housewives' favorite. Other export garment stores soon located nearby. Now in the street behind the Acme, there are some 30 of them, such now well-known shops as the Lungtal, Penta, Hsinniu, Hsienyao, and so forth. When evening falls, adjacent streets become a bustling night fair, attracting hosts of street pedlars.
Factory surpluses and made-for-export seconds once constituted the only stocks of these stores. Though the seconds had quality glitches, their very attractive prices and exotic styles (designed for top overseas fashion centers) attracted throngs of customers, youths most of all.
As these enterprises and their patronage grew larger, the original sources of stocks altered too: The 'surplus' and seconds were outdistanced by consumer demand, and the stores had to place their own orders with manufacturers who had previously served only foreign buyers. Improved quality along with relatively low prices have since sustained the draw of the export garment stores.
The top fashion stores in the Tung Chu concentrate about the sparkling new Tonlin Department Store. Their styles are definitely more fashionable than in the export garment shops nearby ... and more pricey.
Bigi's, the first such store in the Tung Chu, is now a bit isolated-off 'Acme square', a little far from Tonlin circle—and no longer is the focus of the customer tide for top fashion.
In the nights, the glorified new electric signs herald such fashion names as Nifty's, Bosch, Emerald's, filly, Craig, Scoop, Voso, etc. All signify top fashion. Bright, innovative decor and lively background music help bring window shoppers inside, where seasonal air conditioning assures welcome comfort.
Voso opened three years ago, the initial add-on for the new Tonlin shopping concentration. Nearby, ATT's Chung-hsiao store is now the area's biggest fashion shop, occupying a total of 550 ping (19,800 sq. ft.). Customers here find both men's and women's fashions and whole collections of 'necessary' ornaments, though the store is really aimed at successful career women from 20 to 35.
"In our opinion, fashion is a concept, a life style, and therefore it does not limit itself to clothes. The unique spirit of our Chunghsiao store is that it offers a complete collection of fashion, from head to toe," trumpets ATT sales manager Liao Min-jen, proud of ATT's business philosophy.
Although competition in top fashion is the common characteristic of the Tonlin area stores, they also have individual character. For instance, as in Hsimenting, some particularly cater to teenage girls, such as Nifty's, and some are heavy with Japanese fashion styles, carrying the Bosch and Scoop Japanese brands.
At the corner of Jenai and Fuhsing South Roads, the Howard Plaza Hotel arcade of fashion boutiques is a long walk from the bustling center of the Tung Chu. But its extremely elegant interior decor and exquisite goods attract a rather steady stream of Tung Chu shoppers. In a total area of about 1,000 ping (36,000 sq. ft.), there are clothes and adornments which include the most famous domestic and international fashion brands: the Japanese fashion brands of master designer Issey Mitake and Itokin; the French Christian Dior, Pierre Cardin, Charles Jourdan, YSL, Lanvin, and Montague; Britain's OAKS, Dunhill, and Jaeger; Italy's Mila Schon, Zegna, and Escada; the U.S. Polo; the ROC fashion designs of Chien Hsien-te, Lu Fang-chi, and Li Chun-chi, and many others. 'Yuppies' are the core target customers, advises Lin Hsin-yi, arcade manager.
Along Tunhua South Road, near the New Schoolmate Bookstore, a line of international-brand boutiques radiate that 'aristocratic atmosphere'. These shops are favored by Taipei's most affluent residents. Actually, this was the first high-fashion area in the Tung Chu, and the goods of Aucklan, Charles Jourdan, Ralph Lauren, Jianni Versace, Christian Dior, Bally, Louis Vuitton, etc. are among the offerings.
Christian Dior was among the first international fashion brands specifically introduced to Taiwan. About ten years ago, Tang Chi-yu, president of the Shiau Yah Co., obtained the agency for Christian Dior products in Taiwan, and thus began the market development of famed international fashion brands on the island.
"When I saw beautiful things abroad, I always had the impulse to bring them back for people here," said Tang. Thus, she finally founded Shiau Yah, effectively shortening the fashion distance between Paris and Taipei.
Ten years ago, incomes in Taiwan were much lower than today. The introduction of pricey Christian Dior was a real risk then. Yet, Tang believed that early or late, tastes and pocketbooks here would reach out for high-fashion commodities. Her success soon inspired the influx of other class brands, and the fashion sophistication of Taiwan was enhanced in the bargain.
Now, in addition to the Tunhua boutique, which offers the Christian Dior and Jianni Versace lines, Shiau Yah has opened a new Chunghsiao boutique which offers many top names not only in dress and adornments, but leather, ceramic, glass, and metal art articles.
Tang publicly predicted sometime ago that "individual dress presentation" would be stressed here in the future, with "characterization" and "pluralization" becoming the two main flows of fashion and ushering in a greater variety of top imports. The prediction has been emphatically underlined by the founders of the new Sincere Department Store: half of all its offerings are imported brands.
Before their opening, in June this year, Sincere's backers spent eight months in market investigation. Among their findings: Each year, the people of the Republic of China spend NT$10 billion (about US$270 million) purchasing foreign goods on sightseeing trips abroad, a figure almost equal to the total annual sales of all department stores in Taipei. It was quickly concluded that it was time to specifically open a major import-oriented department store in Taiwan.
According to statistics offered by several agents of imported brands in Taiwan, their sales have grown a whopping 200 percent this summer compared with the same period last year. Conservative estimates of total sales of imported brands reach more than NT$1.3 billion annually, and the potential market is estimated to be at least NT$3 billion.
The rise of ROC GNP and the ROC government's successful efforts to combat product counterfeiters have been basic to such sales growth. And the traders involved feel specially optimistic since the ROC Finance Ministry announced reductions in import tariffs on ready-made clothes from 60 to 30 percent, and on shoes, to 20 percent. French fashion designer Pierre Cardin's recent Taipei fashion shows were among the reflections of that optimism.
Window shopping in the Tung Chu is not unlike the same experience in the international shopping districts of Tokyo, Hongkong, and New York. But additionally, people from across the city go there to attend parties in the big restaurants, to see a movie, to take advantage of the cultural activities at a number of area art galleries and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, or to have a fashionable hair styling. There is little wonder that both new and old department store and boutique operations elsewhere are impatiently eyeing new bases in the Tung Chu, and that its potential development is also attracting much attention overseas.