Cindy Ann Peterson Exclusive Homage to America: Zang Toi Celebrates 25 Years of Fashion
New York City, New York
This article Homage to America: Zang Toi celebrates 25 years of fashion was originally posted January 14, 2015 by Cindy Ann Peterson, Washington DC Fashion and Style Editor of Examiner.com
After attending his 25th anniversary show, I recently had the rare privilege of an exclusive interview with Zang Toi, the founder of his eponymous House. Having examined his work up close and personal, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about his background, the inspirations for his works, and what he sees for the future.
For those that are so consumed with brand consciousness that they can’t see anything but what is directly under the Klieg lights, they can stop reading here. For those that are interested not only in the label, but also the quality and meticulous detailing of their clothing, read on. For Toi’s work is truly created in the spirit of esse quam videri.
To claim that Zang Toi’s creations are exquisite is to state the obvious. His works are executed with such painstaking precision, both inside and out, that one might say that his work is to couture what guilloche is to Breguet. One wonders if he might not measure his garments in ångströms if he could.
Of Toi’s work, Laurie Schechter, the former Style Editor of Vogue has said: “Zang Toi is an ambassador for the true meaning of luxury. His is an elegance that is neither timid nor too bold. Extraordinarily well made, classic, and imbued with quality and timelessness, a Zang Toi creation exudes a confidence that envelops the woman.”
Not to put too fine a point on this, but of Toi’s work, Julie Macklowe, the founder and CEO of Vbeauté has said: “No one does gowns and dresses like Zang Toi.”
It’s fitting that Toi’s theme for the Spring/Summer 2015 collection would be called “A Privileged Life; The American Dream.” Toi is proof positive that when talent, dogged persistence, and a bit of luck find their nexus, the American dream can be achieved. For Toi, the dividends have paid handsomely. He has won numerous awards for his designs, including the Mouton-Cadet Young Designer Award, Limelight Elsa Schiaparelli Creative Design Award, and the conferment of the Title “Datuk” by Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (the Supreme Head of State) Abdul Halim Mu’Adzam Shah, as well as awards for his philanthropic work. He has a following in Madonna, Sharon Stone, Ivana Trump, Kirstie Alley and Eva Longoria. He has designed for Irina Dvorovenko of the American Ballet Theatre. And Melinda Gates has flown him to Seattle to design a dress for her.
As the House of Toi celebrates its 25th anniversary, it is a propitious time, like Janus, to not only look back on its humble beginnings, but to also try to get a glimpse into the future of the House.
Zang Toi was born into a family of relatively modest means in a small village in Kelantan, Malaysia. The youngest of seven children, Toi spent his formative years in his father’s grocery store with a very close-knit family. Certainly nothing to suggest that he would one day become a well-established couturier. However, the manifestations of his sartorial genius was always there as he loved to sketch and draw. Like Valentino, one of the precipitating factors driving Toi to become a couturier was the lure of the silver screen. In Valentino’s case, it was the Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland, and Lana Turner in the Ziegfeld Girl. For Zang Toi, it was Audrey Hepburn.
In 1981, at age 20, with only $300 dollars in his possession and “the work ethic that my parents instilled in me”, Zang Toi set off for the U.S. to attend Parsons New School for Design. With the benefit of hindsight, one might submit that the work ethic his parents instilled in him have served him far better than the three hundred dollars.
In hearing Toi recount these early years, one can’t help but be struck by the common thread that has run between him and other legendary figures like Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent. All of them were obsessed with beauty. All of them loved to sketch, draw, and design. And all of them left the relative stability of their existence and took off for terra incognita in their teens to pursue their passions in fashion.
For the uninitiated, to engage in the polemics of Toi’s creative genius is justified. After all, there are far more popular and easily recognized names out there. To the cognoscenti, however, whose business is the perfection of design and construction, the answer is self-evident. While his colors and designs may change from season to season, there are core attributes of his work that are, for Toi, the sine qua non.
First of all, Toi does not create Potemkin Villages. His works are beautifully executed, both inside and out. From this, it is clear that while he is meticulously conscious of how the exterior of his garments appear, he is equally conscious of the undulations and appearance of the interior as it moves with the wearer.
Second, a cursory look at his show from the Fall/Winter 2014 collection showed his custom Loro Piana Cashmere Glen Plaid jackets and coats were matched thread by thread throughout. The Spring/Summer 2015 collection was constructed likewise, everything lined in silk, with hand picked topstitching. This kind of meticulous attention to detail cannot generally be taught. It is innate. It is in one’s DNA.
Third, Toi spares no expense when it comes to obtaining the best materials for his collections. Quality over quantity is a belief by which Toi lives. His cashmere is from Loro Piana. His leather from Lyon. His black silk crepe, silk gazar, silk organza, palm couture silk faille are all from Lake Como. And his crocodile comes from the same Singaporean tannery that used to supply Hermès for their Kelly and Birkin bags before they established their own crocodile farms.
Skill and talent, of course, would be nothing without a bit of luck. Toi got his big break when U.S. Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour gave her imprimatur for him to be featured in the March 1990 issue. In April 1991, he was featured in a Newsweek article as one of a new cadre of designers to watch as “a revolution brewing on Seventh Avenue.”
When I asked him for some of his favorite pieces over the past 25 years that he has introduced to the fashion industry, he opined that it was 1989. It was the end of a decade, and “I was the first one after the Armani era of taupe, gray, and navy. I was the first designer to come onto the scene with a big splash of color. I started the collection with 13 pieces, my lucky 13 pieces. One was a bright orange cotton sweater dress, a shocking pink chiffon baby doll, these were seen in Vogue.”
He continued: “I was the first one to come to the scene after the Armani era with vibrant hot colors…shocking pink with orange, purple with chartreuse green, hot pink with yellow….those were my contribution in the early days.”
I asked him about his reference to “lucky 13”, and that I’d heard he was superstitious. He replied that while he does claim “13” as his lucky number, it was simply his parents’ address. This, made all the more significant by his father’s passing in 2013 at the age of 88.
Indeed, in selecting those pieces for the 25th anniversary, he would return to some of those original ideas from his first show and the implementation of the Malaysian influence: “…I brought back the orchid flower, it was in my very first spring collection 1990. I was in business for less than 6 months. I decided to use the orchid flower button in gold back then on a red tailored linen jacket with gold orchid and a hot pink linen mini-skirt. The Spring 1990 collection was only my second collection and it got into Vogue. Anna Wintour was working on an article the new faces of the 90’s. By the time the article was out, the collection was out. It was like a movie, in February of 1990, I received an advance copy called The New Faces of the ‘90s’ and I was one of the four American designers, and that outfit was on the opening page of the story. That basically put me on the map with the fashion world. That’s why in the 25th anniversary show I chose to reissue that jacket to thank Anna — calling it the iconic VOGUE jacket! We did it in the knit and in the Palm Couture silk faille with orchid buttons. I always love orchids…Asia has a lot of orchids.” Toi continued: “Another piece was the beautiful white phalaenopsis applique, hand beaded caftan. And the combination of the black and purple hand beaded orchid, something very sexy and different. A lot of Americana, and my Malaysian roots. But the reason it was much more American was that I wanted to pay homage to America and to say thank you allowing me to live the American dream.” Indeed, as Toi reflected on his success, his appreciation for the opportunity he has been granted never seemed far from his consciousness as he continually wove his gratitude to America throughout our conversation.
As we touched on the topic of his appreciation for these opportunities, I segued to the question of whether there were any philanthropic projects in which he was engaged as a way of giving back. Toi responded that he had been very moved by Lance Armstrong’s story, and that during the three years from 2007–2009, he raised almost $750,000 dollars for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. For the past 18 years or so, he has also been donating many of his samples no longer needed in his archive to thrift stores run by Housing Works, with the proceeds being used to help those with HIV/AIDS. He is also looking into supporting a human rights foundation.
Toi indicated that his one and only fashion hero is the late Yves Saint Laurent, and that “he is still inspiring everyone today, the packable, the tuxedo look, tailoring for women to be in glamorous evening gowns, this is what I model my pieces after.” That Saint Laurent also knew how “to mix the most unusual colors” has also had a major influence on Toi. Indeed, when Toi gets into the creative spirit, he will often fly to Paris or Venice just to sketch and collect his thoughts. Toi does not use a stylist, preferring to style all of his own shows, and using his assistant and his family members. Hence, the trips provide him with the solitude to spread his work out on the floor of a large suite, finalize his sketches, and edit his collection.
While he has a lot of ideas for his collections, Toi doesn’t show all of his designs. Having a well edited show on the runway means having a critical and disciplined vetting process. He may sketch fifty or so designs, but only show thirty, depending upon what he feels will work for the show. A complicating factor is that the collection is only one component of the show. There is also the music, the color theme, and the design detail, all of which must be mutually complementary.
Says Toi: “It’s like a little miniature play. I select my own music, I work with a music director, I fight with him and all my assistants in the studio only two pieces of music…It’s only a 10 minute show, you don’t want 7 pieces of music jumping from one thing to the other. They get so scared when it comes to the music meeting, because I know exactly what I want,” adding:
“I think My job as a designer is very simple, all I want is to put on a beautiful show and make the woman feel and look beautiful.”
One aspect of Toi’s ability to do just that are his trunk shows, which he has been doing for 25 years. These shows have been critical to his success because they keep him connected to his customers, gain new customers, and help him maintain an awareness for women’s evolving needs. Indeed, he dresses every type of shape and indicates that: “many of my customers are between 8–10–12–14,” adding: “In real life these are the sizes.” He has one customer who is a 5’7”, a strikingly beautiful blonde in Arizona. But he also has another customer who is a 22. On the road, not everyone he dresses is shaped like a supermodel.
When I asked Toi about some personalities with whom he has enjoyed working, he mentions that he had the privilege of dressing Sharon Stone after meeting her in 1996. Stone is one that has a “great sense of style and great taste.” Another was the late Farrah Fawcett, a very special friend whom Toi had met in 2003. “I still miss her every day,” laments Toi. “It was almost like love at first sight. Not many people know about this, but she is one of the most beautiful persons with the kindest heart. A true artist and very accomplished artist and [in] sculpture, even before she became a star on Charlie’s Angels… She had the most beautiful penmanship. Over the years I have collected the notes from her.”
One who has been a great promoter of Toi’s work, and with whom Toi greatly enjoys working, is the New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham. [He] “has been covering me for many years and he says when a lady comes to a gala I can always tell a Zang Toi. He always features everyone of my ladies at a gala.”
When Bill Cunningham went to Zang Toi’s first office on 57th, Toi recalled him saying “Young man, keep up what you are doing. I am your biggest fan. It will all come back one day.”
Said Toi: “I have so much love and respect for Bill Cunningham. I think he is one of the kindest men in fashion, he features me all the time.”
At the end of the 25th anniversary show, Toi walked out to the end of the stage, thanked everyone, then promptly turned around and briskly headed backstage. I asked what he thought as he was literally chased down by photographer and Totally Cool® Editorial Director Richard Renda and dragged back out to the catwalk to receive his anniversary cake. Toi, in his classic demure style, said: “I was in a big hurry because I thought I had been on the runway too long, and needed to get back. But, it was such sweet thing. Wasn’t that such a magical moment?” I said that we had all been yelling for him to stop and come back out. Meanwhile, I saw a flash and looked over, and Bill Cunningham had captured the whole thing.
As to accessories from the House, Toi is hoping to expand into other areas in the near future. For now, he has a line of hosiery with a reverse seam that is currently a hot item. The top selling brand in Malaysia, Toi also has a line of shoes which he designs himself, nail polish in partnership with Zoya, and a 25th anniversary limited edition hair product gift box created in partnership with Rene Furterer, the products of which are all based on natural botanical products from the south of France.
While not an intrinsic part of the Zang Toi line of cosmetics, all of his models complete a Vbeauté treatment prior to the application of their makeup. The great skincare preparations prior to makeup are the secret for their glowing, dewy look.
As our interview drew to a close, one could clearly see that after 25 years, Toi has matured as a designer, and his talents and toils have been parlayed into great success. Yet, these successes have not poisoned the roots of his being. Interestingly enough, the sagest advice for Toi has come from none other than Toi himself, who had once said in 1990 that: “There are so many young designers who are eager to be stars right away. But ego can be the worst killer to any young designer. You can’t let the press and the hype go to your head. If the work doesn’t meet the demand and the quality, it doesn’t mean anything.”
This little nugget of wisdom has stood the test of time, and it’s a real testament to Toi’s ability to remain grounded despite all his successes. Bill Cunningham said it best: “Young man, keep up what you are doing.”
Article By Cindy Ann Peterson: Exclusive Interview with Designer Zang Toi Washington DC Fashion and Style Editor
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