Every Asian Parent’s Nightmare? Nah, It’s Just Fashion

“This panel has become every Asian parent’s nightmare,” joked SuChin Pak. The MTV correspondent was at Columbia University yesterday to moderate a panel of Asian-Americans in—gaspthe fashion industry. But even if they haven’t chosen law or medicine, it’s hard to imagine the superstar panelists aren’t doing their folks proud. A diverse group including Phillip Lim, Opening Ceremony’s Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, Elle’s Joe Zee, and stylists Tina Chai and Aya T. Kanai were all on hand to discuss their experiences in fashion. Not that they’d all started there. Carol Lim and Tina Chai had worked in investment banking and law, respectively, before switching fields. But all of the panelists stressed the important of following their passions, whether, like Chai, from law to a magazine job to freelance, or Zee, who’d never wanted to do anything but work for magazines. And while that often led them to sidestep a more traditional career (or the wishes of their parents), Phillip Lim clarified that there’s nothing so specifically Asian-American about that. “The future is really a global citizen,” he said following the panel. “It’s a shame we have to break it down and categorize it. Maybe those are the first steps in order to eventually having the ultimate goal of just one citizen.”

—Kelley Hoffman