Mindful Fashion award winner Jacqueline Tsang speaks to Madeleine Crutchley about her career in luxury fashion, eco-conscious learnings from local industry and the inspiration for her commemorating garment.
The textural and visual splendour of clothing evokes all sorts of memories.
For Jacqueline Tsang, there is resonance in the recollection of
The evocative item became the linchpin for a design titled ‘Fabric Has Memory’ that Jacqueline submitted to the 2024 Mindful Fashion Circular Design Awards. The designer re-enlivened her memories of the snug baby carrier with a hand-embroidered bag and matching three-piece ensemble. The design saw her championed with the Creative Excellence Award in the second year of the sustainable fashion awards in 2024.
These awards, run by local industry non-profit Mindful Fashion, encourage designers from across Aotearoa to submit inventive garments that revitalise textile waste.
The criteria is highly specific: the garments must be made of at least 80% waste textiles sourced from Aotearoa’s local waste streams and entries must provide explanation for the garment’s impacts, future-proofing for longevity and recyclability. In short, the garment must adhere to the principles of a circular fashion economy, where landfill-destined waste is designed out from a garment’s inception.
Jacqueline’s design shared the stage with other finalists, whose entries were constructed from sail-cloth, toile and film industry waste – the judges found lots to love in her meticulous construction of obsolete coffee sacks, damaged kimonos and wedding wear and vintage tapestry. They celebrated the “high fashion luxury outfit showing a high level of attention to detail and construction”.
Jacqueline’s education in the global fashion industry began at a young age. The designer grew up in Sham Shui Po, a historic and densely populated district in Hong Kong.
“It’s home to many refugee and working-class communities, so I’ve always been aware of the struggles that marginalised groups face. That experience definitely shaped my passion for bridging cultural differences and advocating for inclusivity.”
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Advertise with NZME.Fashion was her milieu.
“Sham Shui Po is also Hong Kong’s main fabric district, where a lot of designers and craftsmen go for materials.”
Navigating the region, and its ties to fashion’s many materials, meant that Jacqueline was privy to both the industry’s grit and gratifications.
“Growing up around that environment gave me a deep appreciation for textiles, craftsmanship, and the whole process behind fashion production.”
Her grandmother’s craftmanship was also informative – she remembers Ku Yin Chun’s hand sewing, knitting and mending. She inherited the practice too. Jacqueline recalls a cartoonish influence in her childhood; “I loved making Hello Kitty cushions. I used to make tapestry [too].”
While she was living in Hong Kong, Jacqueline took a patternmaking course at the Clothing Industry Training Authority. There, she met an influential tutor, Suiling Chan, who had graduated from the London College of Fashion in the UK.
“Her expertise really shaped how I approach garment structure and craftsmanship.”
Suiling noted Jacqueline’s eagerness, as she sourced deadstock materials and played with “weird-shaped things” inspired by Issey Miyake, and encouraged her to consider fashion school in England. Jacqueline followed her guidance and worked in Hong Kong to save up the money for her move.
At age 20, Jacqueline landed in England, starting in Brighton before making her way to London. She was accepted on scholarship into Central Saint Martins, an arts and design college renowned for its fashion alumni; think Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Zac Posen, Simone Rocha and Harris Reed. Despite the demands at the fashion school, she looked for more lessons beyond the university.
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Advertise with NZME.“Every summer, I tried to intern with someone.”
Jacqueline assisted the design team at lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, drawing on her previous experience with offshore manufacturing for Stella McCartney and Bendon in Hong Kong. She dove in, soaking in the years of knowledge offered in the brand’s workroom (“In the first week, I was like, where is your archive?”).
The next year, she worked as an assistant on embroidery and womenswear for Mathew Williamson. Her hand-sewn embroidery made it to the spring/summer 2010 runway at London Fashion Week.
“The transition was huge. I was with luxury brands on the manufacturing side and then jumped to the design side of a big brand. I see how they develop that business side, thinking about trends.”
Jacqueline’s time at Central Saint Martins also inspired an interest in eco-conscious design.
“In my final collection, I used a lot of nature dyes... I know those chemicals, pigments and discharge – how they dye the garments. It’s really bad.”
After five years in the UK, Jacqueline returned to Hong Kong to launch a brand in collaboration with fellow Central Saint Martins alum Elizabeth Lin. They called it ‘Elizabeth & Jacqueline’ and showcased a spring/summer collection at Hong Kong Fashion Week 2013.
Shortly after, Jacqueline moved to Aotearoa with her partner, a New Zealander, and worked to find her footing in our local fashion scene. Her first role was as a design assistant at ITZME, run by designer Shuai Zhang. She helped the upcoming designer prepare for the New Generation at New Zealand Fashion Week 2014.
Jacqueline spent a brief period at Kate Sylvester, pattern cutting and facilitating offshore production translation. After a bold visit to Karen Walker’s HQ, she also landed a position in the workroom.
“I walked into the head office and said, ‘I graduated from [Central Saint Martins], and I’m new to New Zealand – do you have any positions?’”
Jacqueline started in an internship capacity, before being hired as a casual pattern cutter and maker. At the time, Karen Walker was still showing at New York Fashion Week. She was part of the team that brought her ‘Time Machine’ collection to the runway.
Then, Jacqueline had her daughter. She retained her connections to fashion, working as an advisor in womenswear and styling at luxury brand Louis Vuitton and volunteering with the secondhand shops run by Dove Hospice (using her industry connections to bring Karen Walker on board).
Now, Jacqueline showcases her expertise in the workroom for Ruby, as a senior sample cutter.
This role, Jacqueline says, has been transformative for her personal approach to textile waste and fashion. In recent years, Ruby’s founders have set their focus on creating greater transparency within their production. They’ve engaged in candid conversations about issues of sustainability and global supply chains with their customers and the wider fashion industry. Jacqueline notes a personal influence from Ruby’s general manager and Liam designer Emily Miller-Sharma (who co-founded Mindful Fashion with Kate Sylvester and Wayne Conway and now sits on the board of directors).
“I had to learn what they do,” Jacqueline says. “They take the time and not everywhere I’ve worked has a system like that. Ruby opened my eyes so much.”
Jacqueline attended the inaugural 2023 Mindful Fashion Circular Design Awards, where she encountered entries constructed from retired parachutes, bedsheets and decommissioned Wellington Zoo shirts. Stirred by the ethos of the event, she began to collect offcuts for her own zero-waste ensemble. She initially struggled to nail down her main material, until she came across empty hessian coffee sacks at a local cafe. The material, which brings mountains of coffee beans into Aotearoa every year, is 100% biodegradable.
Jacqueline’s final ensemble is made up of a tailored jacket, skirt, top and her reverential bag.
“It was lots of draping, playing, that’s how I got the silhouette.”
The silhouette also references two distinct, historically significant clothing pieces. The first is a formative Burberry trenchcoat called ‘The Tielocken’ designed with militarism in mind (the coat was advertised as being worn by British Army officer and colonial administrator Horatio Herbert Kitchener to the Front during WWI). The second was the sling Jacqueline remembers fondly from her childhood.
“I was thinking about the person walking... It’s like a sling, from my grandmum, how she carried me.”
To elevate the quality and durability of her hessian material, Jacqueline used the offcuts and pieces from a damaged kimono to line the inside of her military jacket.
The top and skirt are cut from the silk and lace of a damaged sample wedding dress, and the minimal silk base is used to hero a vintage tapestry (sourced from an opshop). This tapestry piece is stuffed like a pillow, pronounced in its volume. The shape, Jacqueline says, mimics her childhood crafting of Hello Kitty cushions. Integrating the tapestry was a challenge.
“It was vintage and quite dirty. So, I flipped everything to the other side for even more texture.”
The top half of the panel showcases the polish of the flouncy, Frenchy, past-century scene, while the bottom half exposes its loose threads. It’s a deconstructionist approach and, in the context of sustainable fashion design, demands you consider the conditions and methods of manufacturing.
“You can think about the story... I want [people] to think about where this came from,” says Jacqueline.
The designer also utilised embroidery to create a vibrant landscape graphic for the bag. It evokes the movement that defines her personal, familial and cultural histories.
“I think my identity, where I came from, is really showing because I have so many different nationalities.”
Jacqueline calls her cultural identity “one of dichotomy”.
“Half Indonesian, Hong Kongese, British National Overseas, Ethnic Hakka. I am all of those things.”
In this ensemble, Jacqueline threads these distinctions together to create something singular. She challenges the codes of an oppressive colonial garment to centre her heritage and the stories of her family.
The name ‘Fabric Has Memory’ unexpectedly arose in conversation with Jacqueline’s 5-year-old daughter. In Frozen 2 (Jacqueline laughs during this explanation), snowman Olaf theorises that “water has memory” – in the film, characters are able to uncover their familial past through enchanted elements. Jacqueline says that this idea felt poignant.
“And I thought, fabric has memory too. It makes me think of my family. My small family now, but also MY family.”
In 2024, the criteria for the Mindful Fashion award stated that entrants should be “considering their obligation and responsibilities as a good ancestor to ensure they do not create further waste or pollution problems in the future.”
While the sturdy construction, zero-waste approach and circular nature of Jacqueline’s garments showcase this careful consideration, the design also ponders the role of story – what the garments mean for her role as a future ancestor. She anticipates conversations she will have with her daughter.
“I’m sure one day she will ask ‘Where am I from?’ because she is a mix. I feel this will be my foundation.”
Following her win, she credited her grandmother for her storytelling instincts.
“Her hard work and dedication remind me that fashion isn’t just about how we look, it’s about telling stories and creating meaning that lasts.”
Madeleine Crutchley is a multimedia journalist for Viva and premium lifestyle and entertainment at The New Zealand Herald. She covers stories relating to fashion, culture and food and drink, from her hometown of Auckland. Recently, she’s written about fashion design in the climate emergency, upcoming designers and future forecasting at fashion schools.
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