Vivienne Tam scales style peaks with China Chic

New York

SOME of us are fortunate to find a calling in life early on; and for Vivienne Tam, it was literally by design. At age eight, watching her mother make dresses to save money, Tam decided to try her hand at it as well. She has been designing clothing ever since.

The 60-year-old designer, who was born in Guangzhou, China and moved to Hong Kong when she was three, eventually landed in New York City, where she founded her company, East Wind Code, in 1982. More than 10 years later, she renamed the company Vivienne Tam before staging her first show at New York Fashion Week.