At a star-studded centennial gala hosted by China Institute in Manhattan on the evening of September 9, Chinese-American designer Vivienne Tam unveiled 15 special looks that traced the qipao's evolution through a contemporary lens, weaving traditional Chinese embroidery and bamboo motifs into a distinctly modern fashion vocabulary. Tam, who founded her eponymous label in the 1990s, stands shoulder-to-shoulder with pioneering first-generation Chinese designers like Jimmy Choo, Anna Sui, and Vera Wang, celebrated for her fearless use of color and her singular gift for fusing classic Chinese iconography with forward-looking silhouettes. A fixture on the social circuit, she often appears in her own creations, a practice on display at the event.

In an exclusive conversation, Tam reflected on how her brand has managed to resonate across three generations of consumers, the delicate art of translating Chinese heritage into global fashion, and her optimistic yet grounded perspective on artificial intelligence's role in the design process. She noted that many young customers first discovered her label through their mothers or even grandmothers, yet they are reinterpreting her 1990s and 2000s-era pieces in entirely unexpected ways. "I love seeing how young people style my clothes," she said. "They find their own voice through them."

When asked about the secret behind such cross-generational appeal, Tam credited a relentless commitment to reinvention. "I have always loved what I do, and I never stop learning or innovating," she explained. "I listen to what young people are thinking and what they want to wear. With every new collection, I feel a little younger." Yet this constant evolution never comes at the expense of the cultural DNA at the brand's core.

Tam has long wrestled with a central creative dilemma: how to bring Chinese culture into modern clothing without reducing it to a caricature or a mere costume. "I am always thinking about how to make it more contemporary," she said. "My designs keep changing and adapting, but they remain deeply Chinese, just expressed in new ways." To that end, she was an early adopter of comfort, lightweight fabrics, and sporty ease, recognizing that the modern woman travels and needs clothes that move with her. Still, Chinese identity endures through intricate details like embroidery, frog closures, patterns, and tailoring. That philosophy was evident in the 15 ensembles she crafted for the gala, where she deliberately used the qipao as a bridge to place Chinese and French, Eastern and Western aesthetics within a single cohesive collection, a nod to the event's distinctly Parisian setting.

As a pioneer of tech-fashion collaborations, having partnered with HP and Honor in the past, Tam was asked whether she would consider bringing in outside capital to scale her business. Her answer was open-handed. "Of course I welcome investment," she said. "If we share the same mission, I would be very happy to grow the brand with the right partners." However, she quickly clarified that financial firepower alone is not the draw. More than the size of the check, she cares about whether an investor truly understands what the label stands for. "A good brand must have a soul," she emphasized. "It cannot be just about money."

Finding that alignment, she admitted, is "very difficult." The ideal partner would need to appreciate the cultural value embedded in the brand while also possessing sharp commercial instincts. For Tam, that soul is inseparable from her Chinese heritage. "My collections have always been about where fashion meets innovation," she said. "Innovation means bringing an ancient culture to a new stage."

On the subject of AI, which is rapidly reshaping the creative industries, Tam holds a notably progressive stance. "AI gives me so many interesting ideas," she said. She already regards it as a practical tool across business operations, advertising, and visual production. "The key is how you use AI to become faster and more creative." Yet she draws a firm line when it comes to its limitations. "AI cannot replace your love, and it cannot replace your passion," she stated. "It can give you references and ideas, but in the end, you are the one who has to bring it to life."

Nowhere is that philosophy more tangible than in her hands-on approach to craftsmanship. Take her iconic kung fu jacket, for example, where the traditional Chinese knot buttons are still made entirely by hand. "Sometimes a jacket has five knots, and each one may be tied by a different person," she said. "There is a lot of love in every single knot."