Jen-Fang Shueh’s Tokyo-based label “Jenny Fax”, which launched in 2011, has amassed a cult following amongst individuals drawn to the innocent yet deeply sinister components of life. Many feel intensely drawn to her avant-garde approach on couture because of the personal connection she herself projects onto her collections. Drawing inspiration from her childhood in Taiwan, studying fashion in Belgium’s L’Ecole de la Cambre as well as channeling her authentic personal style, she has created a connection between designer and consumer far deeper than that of a transactional purchase of clothing.

How has the Taiwanese culture influenced your collections the most? I have spent some time in Taiwan myself and I have found the culture of the country in general fascinating and somewhat different from other parts of Asia, such as mainland China.
I stayed in Taiwan until I was 19 years old. Taiwanese culture such as old Taiwanese films influenced me the most. The tone is always a bit dark, a bit sad and very delicate. On the other hand, the country is very hot and humid, so everyone loves the color. It is a very twisted feeling in a good way, sad and negative but colorful. My childhood in the country was influenced by American culture and I remembered we watched so many 80's cartoons and soap dramas. Even now I still very adore America as a dream.

Do you think teens who grow up in global epicenters such as New York, Tokyo, and London hold an advantage over kids who were raised in small towns in terms of the ability to grow creatively? Or do you believe being exposed to everything fashion, art, music, etc. has to offer can disable the creative process?
I think it was a bit different before. Now everywhere has net-work.

Did you travel with your family growing up? How did your experience or inexperience with different cultures shape your label?
When I was little our family went on many trips by car because going overseas cost too much, so mainly inside of Taiwan. I couldn’t say the cities that we visited were all great, but what happened there, and the atmosphere really left the strong impact and stayed in my mind. I remember my father drove a Ford car (the brand), which had a kind of velvet fabric seats. When it was raining, the moisture in the air stained into the seats and the velvet touch sofa became so wet like horror movies.

I also remember there was a day my father drove us around and bought so many cookies, which we donated to an Orphanage before the Chinese New Year.Or sometimes my parents were fighting in the car, suddenly like a scene from a movie and my mother would really walk home by herself through the highway. I think it was not the beautiful views or landscapes, what deeply influenced me was family mood and feeling. When I was making the collection, it always became too cute, so I needed to balance it with something destroyable. Because this twisty moody feeling is more like my memories.

There is certain darkness in your collections that many find alluring. Have the darker and more sinister parts of life always been apart of your identity?
(Haha) I think confidence and being positive do not much exist in my mind. Again, about my family, I’ve grown up with 2 sisters and 1 brother and my mum is a super busy working lady. She really didn’t have enough time to take great care of the children. (not like now family only have 1 or 2 children). So I guess we had grown up very freely. I remembered my mum pre-paid the money to the video shop and we could just go and get 1 videotape per day. We watched almost all Hong Kong horror movies and that was fun.

Once I received a message from a JennyFax fan, she asked me to please be happier, but I just wondered why everyone must be happy. I am happy in the way I am now, not hoping so much, negative. Somehow, it’s more comfortable for me and with no confidence, I could just work much harder. I especially like the process of building up the collection and diving into my mind, going deeper and deeper to find more depth. It makes me feel very heavy, but it feels good too when you find an idea you want to do.

Who are some of the designers from the past or present that have inspired you?
Raf Simons. I always adore his minimum men’s wear design and youthful spirit which really touches the people. But I also love Olivier Theyskens. Angelo Figus is another designer that I loved his last show and I was there when I was still a student. It was very touching and beautiful.