Victim Fashion Street

Photo by Chun-Pin Lin

Mei Hui Liu, the founder of Victim Fashion Street, has a street rebels eye for recycled materials.  Her naïve punk approach to recycled fashion is her signature style, with a ten-year heritage. Combining vintage fabrics from multiple different eras, Liu carefully crafts scraps and shreds of antique lace, Great British flags, and seemingly haphazard haberdashery into her creative patch-worked designs.

Photo by Chun-Pin Lin

With a hand sewing machine and a vintage textile addiction, Taiwan born Mei Hui Liu opened her first store in 2001, soon finding herself slashing and stitching haphazard hems with a cut and paste philosophy. Lui’s reconstructions are an ode to romance, combined with a passion for sustainability and with more than a nod to the street.  Her slashed, sewn, blended and mended garments have a naive charm that combines style references from multiple eras to match the varied sourced textiles.

Photo by Chun-Pin Lin

Liu’s love affair with London came via a detour in Italy and fashion schooling in Paris.  The location of her first store off London’s Brick Lane, on Fashion Street, inspired the label name of Victim Fashion Street. With a passion for Victorian lace Liu’s store blossomed into a pastel treasure chest of theatrical flounces and frills, collected bric-a-brac, antique décor and rescued furniture.  Living a fashion version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, constructing fondant dresses replete with Mad Hatter charm, and dressing her cadre of colorful friends, local DJ’s, eccentric artists and nightlife scenesters, Victim became the place to hang out for an off kilter cuppa and a good natter, spawning a variety of spontaneous collaborations and events.

Photo by Chun-Pin Lin

Adapting her customized fashions for the runway, Liu has presented her prêt a porter collection, off schedule during London Fashion Week.  Chosen by the British government to participate in “British Fashion at the Leading Edge” in the Chinese market, Liu was twice invited to create a customized range for high street giant Top Shop.  Her work has been showcased alongside Vivienne Westwood, as well as at the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Tate Britain and countless other presentations around the world.

Available online, Victim Fashion Street continues to delight and inspire with wondrous creations for the wild and the playful at heart.

Website: www.victimfashionst.com

Purchase: http://victimfashionst.com/shop