On October 4th, during the biggest event in Taiwan’s fashion world – Taipei Fashion Week – we launched Project UNI-FORM, with an official catwalk show. And it quickly became the most hotly discussed topic in the fashion community. We also produced an exclusive lookbook, which included a paper doll that people could dress up in whatever combination and whatever style suited them best. On UNI-FORM’s official website, we introduced UNI-FORM designs tailored for specific schools across Taiwan – starting with Banqiao Senior High School. In Vogue’s online shop, you can buy a real UNI-FORM of your own, and wear it to school. As each student put on an actual UNI-FORM, they could feel its liberating design for themselves. The entire journey and all the garment details were brought together on Instagram, keeping up an ongoing conversation with students in sync with their lives.
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The First-ever Gender-neutral Uniform Project UNI-FORM Garments are not intrinsically gender-specific. Who says boys can’t wear skirts? In Project UNI-FORM, we asked fashion designer Angus Chiang to design a line of uniforms for girls and boys alike, with design choices that students can freely mix and reshape however they want. Combining shirts and skirts, jackets and one-piece dresses, they’re equally fashionable and practical. Regardless of gender, body type or habits, everyone can reshape the uniforms with zippers and drawstrings, however they feel most comfortable: If you like, pull a zipper and turn your shirt into a dress. If you’re confident of your figure, pull a drawstring, so the waist and arms hug your body... We designed a line of uniforms that everyone feels at ease wearing, in the hope that everyone respects everyone else’s choices and appearance.
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With zero media budget, the project generated 14M in earned media value. A single line of uniforms made all of Taiwanese society ponder some basic but important questions: Why do clothes distinguish between males and females? Can we allow every person to decide for themselves what they will look like? Internet influencers livestreamed wearing UNI-FORMs, and Taiwan’s biggest bands took to the stage with UNI-FORMs on. The campaign even gained the attention of the Ministry of Education and the president, and was featured in school textbooks. Most gratifying of all, we received extremely positive feedback from students: “Regardless of gender, we can all be comfortable in the UNI-FORM.” And we inspired students from other places around the world to transcend their own restrictions. From now on, the “UNI” in “uniform” stands for “Unisex” and “Unique.” We didn’t just change how uniforms look. We changed what they mean.