Spotlight: Alexander King Chen, fashion designer and filmmaker
Today, in our spotlight series, we meet Alexander King Chen, a world-renowned Taiwanese American fashion designer. Three years ago, he began making fashion films. His three short films won several awards at international film festivals, including Best Artistic Director and Best Visual and Special Effects awards at the London Film Festival. FTV reporter Stephany Yang spoke to Chen to find out more about his films.
This is Alexander King Chen, an award-winning Taiwanese American fashion designer and now, a filmmaker.
Combining his love for fashion and film, he spent three years making three short films, "Inhuman Love," "Kill-Burn" and "Are You in Heaven," for which he also designed the clothing and soundtracks. His first film won Best Artistic Director and Best Visual and Special Effects awards, and was nominated for Best Fashion Film and Best Music awards at London Film Festival 2020.
Alexander King Chen
Fashion filmmaker
The first film, "Inhuman love," was our first baby. It’s very abstract as we can see. We wanted to kind of give people the idea that we don’t have that we don’t have that much time. The time to do something is now. Our metaphor, we are referring to mother earth. The time is now. Our second film was inspired by Jas. We were looking at certain very important things we cared about. We both read news articles about young people killing themselves because of not enough likes on posts. We are reminding young kids that there’s more to life than just social media. It’s a great platform if you can use it to your advantage, beautiful. Otherwise, there are other things in life that deserve our attention such as love and creativity, which is very important when I was at my lowest. I picked up cello. I learned the guitar. I started writing my own music. That really lifted me out of my dark spot.
Chen says his films and songs were greatly inspired by his late mother. Before his mother passed, she did 10 years of community service. She was in a wheelchair, blind, and on dialysis, but she still went to visit patients in the hospital twice a week. When his mother passed away, Chen decided to turn to creating music and films to spread kindness and inspire others. He hopes to encourage his viewers to seize the time, take care of the earth, and cherish time with loved ones.
Alexander King Chen
Fashion filmmaker
Before we lost her, for 10 years of her life, she was on dialysis. She was in a wheelchair and she was blind. But she still took two days of her week to go do community service. After she left us, I realized what a selfish person I was because it was always about me, me, me. So, then I thought that to continue kindness on the planet, I realize I’m not a doctor. I’m not a lawyer. I can’t save people, but what I can do is to use artwork to inspire or to create films.
Chen was born in Los Angeles, and grew up in Taiwan. At the age of 18, he went to London to study at Central St. Martins, and later went to France to further his studies. He has worked in the U.S. and Paris for many years with brands such as Versace, Estee Lauder and many others. He also has his own clothing brand. A few years ago, he ventured into the world of fashion filmmaking. He gives some advice for people hoping to get in the field.
Alexander King Chen
Fashion filmmaker
We started incorporating music, dance, and ballet performances into our fashion shows. I want to let the audience know, just be creative with your work. It’s not a problem. That’s what lured me to put my foot forward to do more. My second thing that I want to encourage people is to have the courage to ask and to try.
Chen released his three short films for free on YouTube. He says that through his films, he hopes to carry on his mom’s acts of kindness, and to inspire more people through fashion and film.
2022-09-22