In the words of Chilean writer Isabel Allende: “Roots are not in a landscape or a country, or a people, they are inside you.” Such is the spirit that motivates designers Jason Mui and On-ying Lai at their clothing brand Yat Pit. The fashion design graduates from Central Saint Martins founded Yat Pit in 2015 with a desire to reconnect with their Chinese roots upon returning to Hong Kong.
It all began when Mui and Lai were eager to discover their hometown—a place that felt fresh yet familiar. After realising that their wardrobes lacked traditional pieces, the two sought to create Chinese clothes for everyday wear. “As we researched our heritage, we found a gap we had to fill. We never got in touch with our roots until we spent time with our families,” says Mui.
“Roots is about family, tradition and culture. Things that put into perspective where you came from.”
“Now that we’re a bit older and pay attention to our cultural background, we understand the meaning behind traditions like tomb sweeping and wearing red during Chinese New Year. It opened a new gate of knowledge that was within us all along. That fuelled our love for Chinese culture.”
While Lai was born and raised in Hong Kong, Mui grew up in the UK with his Hakka parents. For Mui, his cross-cultural childhood was a time when he had little understanding of his Chineseness. “One of the distinct things that I picked up was the food. Family dinners were very Asian,” recalls Mui. “Whereas in school, meals were lasagna and burgers that other kids were bored of. I thought they tasted so good because I didn’t get to eat any at home!”
Central to Yat Pit is the reimagining of traditional themes to make them relevant and understandable through innovation. For Mui and Lai, merging the past and present is akin to the philosophy of yin and yang. Where there are contrasts, there is harmony too. Finding the riches in between their stylistic differences and binaries—East and West, feminine and masculine, black and white—defines their design approach. “There are many brands and artists who can build on a Chinese aesthetic with the cheongsam and Tang dynasty styles. But for us, that’s cliché. We want our audience to understand our references in a way that’s recognisable but not too obvious,” says Mui.
“The name Yat Pit represents us taking our first step towards action.”
As for their eclectic sources of inspiration? Think Bruce Lee, The Matrix, Kwaidan, Ren Hang and everyday life in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po. The district Mui and Lai formerly inhabited boasts a local flair where people creatively make do with what they have. Recalling Sham Shui Po, Lai muses: Even Yat Pit’s name, which is Cantonese for ‘one stroke’, is inspired by the idiom: 十划都未有一撇. As explained by Mui and Lai: “It refers to how you have many ideas but nothing is done. So Yat Pit represents us taking our first step towards action.”
Conscious creation has also been a priority for Mui and Lai since Yat Pit began. Starting with one collection per year, the duo came to realise that producing less, avoiding trend cycles and making pieces with lasting popularity work best. Fabric wastage is reduced through efficient pattern cutting too.
“Sustainability is a way of being. Fashion operates in a way that goes against that by always demanding new products,” explains the duo. “We aim to avoid overproduction and incorporate sustainable thinking into the concept of collections to spread the message of being kinder to Earth.”
Take, for instance, their upcoming autumn/winter line that explores Chinese tea culture and its relation to Taoist beliefs. What began as a search for Yat Pit’s scent led the designers to create handmade T-shirts dyed in pu-erh tea and sewn with encased loose leaves. With each wash, the fading and changes in sepia-toned tea stains bestow upon the wearer Taoist teachings of impermanence and unity with nature.
“We learn the good and bad from our history and it inspires us to grow and evolve.”
Certain difficulties, however, are unavoidable as an independent label. A big challenge Mui and Lui faced when starting Yat Pit was finding financial support and picking up business skills.“Fashion school teaches you how to create a collection, sew, and pattern cut. But post-graduation, the aftermath of that is missing,” shares Mui. “You have to learn how to manage production costs, sustain a brand image, and figure out how a collection is going to sell. It’s hard when you’re not trained in that area.”
Moving into the future, Mui and Lai aim to take a spiritual direction in their collections and produce two collections a year. And as for what roots mean to the diasporic duo? Mui says: “It’s family, tradition and culture. Things that put into perspective where you came from and remind you that you’re continuing your family’s legacy.” Echoing the sentiment, Lai adds: “It’s about honouring the past and reinventing it as times change. We learn the good and bad from our history and it inspires us to grow and evolve.”
The March ‘Roots’ issue of Vogue Singapore is available for sale online and in-store from 15 March 2023.
