Style isn’t just about what you wear or how you wear it. More and more, it’s about knowing what’s in the products you buy and where they come from. Enter GQ Taiwan’s Style Fest, the brand’s first large-scale event that combined fashion, art, music, and food around the theme of sustainability.
GQ Taiwan’s Senior Marketing and Events Manager Diki Yin shares how last month’s event came together, how sustainability was a core theme, and how the definition of “style” is changing in the country.
Tell us a little about how GQ Taiwan’s Style Fest came together.
It all started with GQ Taiwan’s Head of Editorial Content Kevin Wang wanting to have an event that would bring together the country’s “cool kids,” both influencers and consumers, to promote conversations around fashion, and create a stage to showcase the energy and different perspectives of various Taiwanese trendsetters. The marketing department then set about working out how to translate this idea into a one-of-a-kind event that would underline GQ’s influence and give consumers a great experience.
Walk us through some of the programming for this year’s festival and how it all came together to enhance the audience’s experience.
We first explored the most representative aspects of “style,” and how these could be reflected in the event. Then, rather ambitiously, we thought about how we could find ways to apply Condé Nast’s sustainability commitment to GQ Taiwan via this event. This led to us planning the three main themes of Fashion, Music and Art with upcycling at the core. We brought in two outstanding individuals from these fields, one a manager of a high-end select shop, the other an art curator and party music aficionado, to work with us so we could draw on their professional insights and industry influence to create an enticing event.
How does this event capture your vision for GQ Taiwan and GQ’s global vision?
In the past, GQ Taiwan’s content focused on the image of a more classic gentleman, but with Gen Z’s emergence, this image needed to evolve. As we continue to lead the way for men’s fashion and lifestyle, it’s important to expand our appeal and influence to different groups and, as Deputy Global Editorial Director at GQ and Head of Editorial Content at British GQ Adam Baidawi says, “create a place for like-minded people to gather and exchange ideas,” in this case about a shared passion. The event succeeded in doing that and helped us embed ourselves in more modern “style” territory.
What was the significance behind this year’s “Know Your Style” theme?
The fashion industry is no saint when it comes to sustainability. As someone working in fashion media, I don’t think we need to greenwash this fact, but rather help the fashion industry develop a sustainable mindset and use our influence to promote the idea that loving fashion doesn’t have to mean being an enemy of sustainability.
This gave birth to the “Know Your Style” message that became the main thrust of our communication plan. It’s about making the effort to understand what your favorite style is, what suits this style, and to then spend some time understanding the products themselves. The more you know how to choose items that will last and that you won’t get tired of, the more you will love having them and not just blindly follow trends. So on top of dressing more stylishly in ways that suit you, you also become a conscious consumer. This is the message I hope “Know Your Style” sends.
How did you make sure that the event promoted being environmentally conscious?
Besides the core message detailed above, we also rented stalls and clothing racks made of sustainable materials and repurposed items we had in storage for visual coherence. There was, however, always going to be unavoidable waste, such as from some of the art installations and from consumers. For this, we enlisted the help of a charity that specializes in recycling and upcycling to make the event as sustainable as possible.
What does “style” mean for people in Taiwan?
I can’t speak for everyone, but one of my observations is that style shouldn’t only be about dressing well, but also showing your favorite self, so to speak, and being comfortable in your own skin. Compared to before, many Taiwanese are embracing styles that are out of the ordinary and on the surface sometimes even difficult to understand. So I think style has become a kind of tool for appreciating and trying to understand people who are not like us, which I find fascinating.
Is there anything you wish you could have done this year but didn’t for whatever reason?
This may sound a bit unbelievable, but the truth is, we did everything we wanted to! If I really had to pick one thing, then it was deciding not to go ahead with the “Trend Forum” series of talks. There was so much else happening already, though, and we weren’t sure our target audience would appreciate what would have been a relatively sedate component.
How will you top this event next year?
We received a lot of positive feedback, but one complaint was that it was only a one-day event, and many people’s friends couldn’t make it that particular day. This had a lot to do with the cost of the venue and the event format. So maybe next year we will think about how to hold it over two days and shake up the format to add in different elements.
How would you describe your own personal style? Always right for the occasion! I love changing my style to suit the occasion.
