Cha-Rin Yeh grew up in rural Taiwan along the Zhuoshui River, where the land, nature, and rhythms of everyday life shaped her earliest sensitivity to materials and aesthetics. As a young girl, guided by a local tailor, she made her first garment from a hand-dyed fertilizer sack. The experience sparked a lasting fascination with how an ordinary material could be transformed into clothing.
\n \nShe later immersed herself in cutting, patternmaking, and garment construction, gradually developing her own design approach through hands-on practice. In 1985, she founded CHARINYEH under her own name. For over four decades, Taiwanese culture, lived memory, and bodily experience have remained at the heart of her work.<\/p>\n\t
\u2500\u2500 What is the brand\u2019s concept? What do you want to communicate through fashion designing?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n CHARINYEH is rooted in Eastern aesthetics, cultural memory, and spatial tailoring, exploring the relationship between clothing, body, and space. \u2500\u2500 What is your source of inspiration in creating fashion? What is your process of developing a design concept?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n Much of our inspiration comes from Taiwan \u2014 its land, nature, culture, climate, and memories of everyday life. Rural landscapes, plants, traditional Chinese medicine, local culture, Zhuyin phonetic symbols, and even contemporary technology can become starting points for a collection. \u2500\u2500 Who are your current stockists (areas, retail formats, etc.)? Describe the typical followers of your brand.<\/strong><\/p>\t\n CHARINYEH is currently rooted primarily in Taiwan, with distribution through department stores, directly operated retail locations, and its official online store. At the same time, the brand continues to expand internationally through fashion events and trade shows in Tokyo and Paris. \u2500\u2500 Which brands, designers, styles and cultures have had the most impact on your fashion designing, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n Rather than one particular brand or designer, I have been most deeply influenced by Taiwanese culture and the aesthetics of everyday life in the East. \u2500\u2500 Why have you chosen Tokyo (Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO) as the venue for presenting your collection?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n Japan is one of the key markets for CHARINYEH\u2019s future development. We feel a strong affinity with Japan\u2019s appreciation for cutting, materials, craftsmanship, and attention to detail \u2014 values that have also been central to CHARINYEH for decades. \u2500\u2500 What is the concept \/ image for your brand’s 2027 SS season?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n The 2027 S\/S collection, Island Tides, begins with Taiwan as an island and designer Cha-Rin Yeh\u2019s own special relationship with water. \u2500\u2500 What is your vision for your show \/ installation?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n Rather than literally recreating an ocean landscape, the show aims to evoke the sensation of a body drifting through water. \u2500\u2500 What are your brand\u2019s future outlook and goal?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n CHARINYEH aims to establish a distinctive contemporary Taiwanese design language within the international fashion landscape. \u2500\u2500 What does Tokyo represent for you?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n To me, Tokyo is a city where order and freedom coexist. Its precise urban rhythm and refined approach to everyday life exist alongside highly individual subcultures, art, and fashion. Even in ordinary places, there is an extraordinary attention to detail, while people across generations maintain their own ways of dressing. This natural coexistence of tradition and contemporary life, order and individuality, is what makes Tokyo so fascinating to me.\t<\/p>\n\t \u2500\u2500 Which parts \/ sites of Tokyo do you like most? Why?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n Azabudai Hills and Omotesando \u2500\u2500 What are your favorite \/ recommended shops (of any genres, e.g. fashion stores, homeware stores, food services), facilities and sites?<\/strong><\/p>\t\n \uff081. \uff0921_21 DESIGN SIGHT
\n \nWe believe clothing can be more than something that decorates the body; it can become a space that gently holds it. Through silhouettes that stand away from the body, sculptural proportions, and precise cutting, we create room for air and movement, allowing the wearer to breathe, walk, and live naturally within the garment.
\n \nRather than defining women through clothing, we envision mature, independent women with their own values and rhythms of life \u2014 women whose strength does not need to be loudly expressed, but emerges quietly through presence and time.<\/p>\n\t
\n \nRather than directly reproducing traditional imagery, we look at the ways of living, emotions, and bodily experiences behind it. Forms, lines, colors, and sensations are then translated through patternmaking, materials, embroidery, and craftsmanship.
\n \nFor CHARINYEH, culture is not decoration but a way of thinking and creating. We aim to translate Taiwanese culture into contemporary clothing without reducing it to a surface-level symbol.<\/p>\n\t
\n \nOur core customers are mature women with a strong sense of personal style and an independent way of living. They value materials, cutting, comfort, and longevity rather than short-lived trends, and are interested in the cultural thinking behind a garment. Many have followed CHARINYEH for years and continue to wear and collect pieces from different periods of the brand\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\t
\n \nThe rural landscape along the Zhuoshui River, traditional ways of making clothes, memories of family and daily life, and the relationship between people, land, and nature have long formed the foundation of my work. Eastern ideas of balance, the flow of qi, and the relationship between body and nature have also shaped the way I think about clothing.
\n \nWhile I continue to observe art, architecture, and fashion across cultures, I am less interested in following an established style than in developing a contemporary fashion language that grows from my own cultural background and lived experience in Taiwan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/rakutenfashionweektokyo.com\/jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CHARINYEH_001.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAbout 2027 SS collection<\/h2>\t\n\t
\n \nThrough fashion weeks, trade shows, and pop-ups in Tokyo, we have gradually built connections with the Japanese market. By presenting our first standalone runway show at Rakuten Fashion Week TOKYO, we hope to introduce the world of CHARINYEH more deeply to Japanese and international media, buyers, and audiences. It is an opportunity to present a design language rooted in Taiwanese culture and Eastern perspectives on the body, while taking an important step toward the brand\u2019s long-term development in Japan.<\/p>\n\t
\n \nUnderwater, breathing slows and the body seems to become weightless. From this sensation, the sea is understood not simply as a landscape to be seen, but as a presence experienced through the body. The collection also looks toward marine life surrounding Taiwan, including the Taiwanese Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, Penghu octopus, and Tubastraea coral of Chaishan, reinterpreting their distinctive forms, colors, and vitality.
\n \nThrough fluid lines, layering, materials, prints, and embroidery, the collection translates the relationship between island, ocean, and body into clothing, revealing a more vivid, playful, and lively expression of Taiwanese culture.<\/p>\n\t
\n \nThrough the models\u2019 movement, music, lighting, and spatial atmosphere, we want to create a sense of time slowing down and the body floating freely underwater. The overall mood will be relaxed and fluid, keeping the garments and models at the center. As they move, layers, lines, and materials will gradually reveal themselves.
\n \nRather than showing the audience an image of the sea, we hope to create a rhythm and physical sensation that feels like entering the water itself.<\/p>\n\tFuture<\/h2>\t\n\t
\n \nMoving forward, we plan to deepen our presence in Japan through runway presentations, showrooms, buyer relationships, and physical retail, while continuing to expand internationally.
\n \nRather than presenting Taiwanese culture as surface-level imagery, we want to translate it through structure, materials, craftsmanship, and bodily experience into clothing that can be understood and worn across cultures. Our long-term goal is for CHARINYEH to become one of the brands through which international audiences discover and understand contemporary Taiwanese design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAbout TOKYO<\/h2>\t\n\t
\n \nI am drawn to the way Azabudai Hills brings architecture, art, nature, and urban life together. Despite its distinctly contemporary setting, it maintains a thoughtful and comfortable relationship between people, nature, and space.
\n \nOmotesando is another place I enjoy walking through whenever I visit Tokyo. Beyond fashion itself, I like observing the window displays and spatial concepts of different brands, as well as the individual ways people dress on the street.
\n \nWhat draws me to Tokyo is the natural coexistence of tradition and modernity, order and individuality. Simply walking through the city often reveals new details in its architecture, spaces, and everyday life, which frequently become a source of inspiration for my work.<\/p>\n\t
\n I am drawn not only to the space itself, but also to the thinking behind it, shaped by Tadao Ando and Issey Miyake\u2019s approach to design. Rather than focusing solely on form or aesthetics, its exhibitions encourage visitors to reconsider everyday life, materials, and society from new perspectives.
\n \nAs a designer, each visit gives me an opportunity to look at familiar things differently and always leaves me with new ideas and inspiration.
\n \n\uff082. \uff09Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo
\n Beyond its contemporary art exhibitions, I am also drawn to the museum\u2019s architecture and sense of space.
\n \nFor me, visiting an exhibition is not simply about viewing works of art. It is also an opportunity to observe how different creators use various media to express their perspectives and ways of seeing the world. Encountering these different approaches often encourages me to reconsider my own creative process.
\n \n \uff083. \uff09MASAKA at Shibuya PARCO and AFURI
\nAs a vegetarian, discovering different vegetarian dishes is one of the pleasures of visiting Tokyo.\n \nMASAKA, the vegan izakaya in the basement of Shibuya PARCO, is one of my favorite places. Beyond the food, I enjoy its relaxed atmosphere and the glimpse it offers into everyday life in Tokyo. I also enjoy AFURI\u2019s Rainbow Vegan Ramen, especially the way the vegetables are grilled to bring out their individual flavors and character.
\n \nI have always appreciated Japanese food culture, particularly the freshness of its ingredients and the quality of its produce. Even as a vegetarian, I can experience the care and sensitivity that Japanese cuisine brings to ingredients, seasonality, and flavor.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n