A fashion masterclass in dressing up and down from Mytheresa’s Tiffany Hsu, Taiwan-born woman about town
- Buyer for luxury online retailer who grew up a tomboy is ‘really into’ vivid colour, loving the ’80s silhouette, and obsessed with high-waisted pants
- ‘I always mix more formal pieces with a casual element,’ says Hsu, one of the most influential people in fashion, who splits her time between London and Munich
Growing up in Taiwan, Tiffany Hsu was a tomboy who wore boy’s clothes – “chinos and dungarees with Converse”. It was only when she moved to the UK aged 15 that she began taking an interest in fashion. Today, with her distinctive, razor-sharp bob and enviable style, she is one of the most influential people in fashion.
Describing her teenage years, Hsu says: “I started hanging out with British girls who were really into their make-up and fashion magazines. It inspired me to start experimenting with make-up and clothes.”
In turn, Hsu’s aspirations for a career in fashion were ignited while flicking through the pages of Vogue as a teen. “The first time I remember thinking this is what I want to do for the rest of my life is when I saw a picture of John Galliano’s Chinese collection that he created for Dior. I started researching Galliano and I found it he went to St Martins.
“I called my parents and told them, ‘I know which school I want to go to now!’ So, when I was 17 I went to London for the interview and I was offered a place to study fashion at Central St Martins.”
As a student of the leading fashion college, she worked on a stall on London’s famous Portobello Market, as well as on the shop floor in fashion boutiques, before securing her first buying job at Feathers boutique in London. She went on to work as a buyer for Lane Crawford in Hong Kong and for London department store Selfridges, before joining Mytheresa, a luxury online retailer, in 2017.