Dan Liu

Dan Liu
Born Hong Kong Hong Kong
Nationality Canada Canada, Hong Kong Hong Kong (dual citizenship)
Education Aoyama Fashion College
Occupation Fashion designer
Labels TATSUAKI, AKI, DAN, Tsuki Fashion
Website
www.danliu.ca

Dan Liu (Chinese: 廖建明| Japanese: たつあき, Liu Tatsuaki) is a Chinese-Japanese Canadian fashion designer and producing apparel, accessories and fashions for women and men. He is also the founder and the creative director of TATSUAKI fashion label. He was born in Hong Kong and is currently based in Toronto, Canada.

Early life

Dan Liu was born in Hong Kong and because of his complex family background, he moved to Canada by himself when he was 16. Liu attended one year high school at Resurrection Catholic Secondary School in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, before studied at the University of Waterloo for Psychology and Computer Science. At his early age, Liu worked as a janitor before, as a delivery guy, as a tutor, as a choreographer, performing live shows, until producing various fashion shows for a major fashion group in Canada in 1995, and this triggered his passion in fashion. In 1997, he decided to discontinue everything and went back to Tokyo, Japan to study fashion design and marketing at Aoyama Fashion College.[1]

Fashion career

After graduating, Liu worked for a fashion house TSUKI Fashion as a designer.[2] In 2002, he began working with Holt Renfrew Canada [3] to promote his own label TATSUAKI by starting in 4 major Canadian cities; Montreal, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; Calgary, Alberta and Vancouver, British Columbia until 2005 it was available across Canada. Liu went back to Tokyo, Japan in 2004 to launch his ready-to-wear collection and in 2006, he expanded his line by creating a lower price range label, AKI in Japan. In 2012, he started contracting with Hudson's Bay and became the first Asian Canadian fashion designer to launch his own label at the Bay in the 21st century.[4]

In fall 2010, Liu was fashion design/consulting to clients as a stylist/designer at Hugo Boss Canada.

In spring 2013, Liu collaborated with Haight & Ashbury in Toronto, Canada for men's clothing.

TATSUAKI

TATSUAKI Inc. was founded by Liu in 2002 and it's named after his Japanese name. The label emphasis on beauty and practicality and caters for women as ‟Funky Couture”. The collection often appears with crochet, lace and embroidery details.

TATSUAKI garments have graced the racks at Holt Renfrew Canada and other notable boutiques in both Tokyo, Japan and Toronto, Canada. Dan Liu opened the flagship store of TATSUAKI in the heart of Yorkville, Ontario, Canada in 2002 and was frequented by stars such as Jennifer Love Hewitt, Renee Zellweger and Robin Williams.

Fashion Makeover Reality Television Show

In the fall 2014, Liu was invited by OMNI TV from Rogers Media Group to host and produce a fashion makeover reality television series, “Fashion Girls by Dan”. The program is contracted for 2 series, with 13 episodes for each series. It will be aired on OMNI TV channel 2 nationwide in Canada.[5][6] It will also be on aired in China starting 2015.

Personal life

Liu has extensive training in martial arts. He started training in Muay Thai since he was 15. Starting 1997, he learned and studied iaido and bushido (The way of Samurai).[7] According to him, practicing martial arts is not just a physical exercise, it's also mental. It is a life philosophy.

Awards

References

  1. ↑ “Another level for Dan Liu”. Today Commercial News.com, Commercial Newspaper, Sunday, February 6, 2011 p. 32,33.
  2. ↑ "fashionWATCH - Dan Liu (TSUKI)". web.archive.org. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  3. ↑ http://www.ccue.com/ccp_east/2011-01-27/1296188725d2978858.html
  4. ↑ "Tatsuaki Spring 2012 at The Bay Fashion. Beauty. Trends. | Frontrowmag.com". frontrowmag.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  5. ↑ "OMNI TV - OMNI 2 - Cantonese News Segment". omnitv.ca. Retrieved 2014-09-01.
  6. ↑ “Fashion Girls by Dan - fashion makeover reality TV show by Dan Liu”. Today Commercial News.com, 701 magazine, Saturday, September 27, 2014 p. 39.
  7. ↑ "Dan Liu Tatsuaki - Iaido examination: 9th move SOETE TSUKI 九本目 添え手突き - YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  8. ↑ "ACCE - 2012 Most Innovative Business Award: Tatsuaki Inc. - YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  9. ↑ "omni TV - Trendy Zone 2012 - TATSUAKI by Dan Liu - 2012 S/S Collection for the Hudson Bay - YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  10. ↑ "Welcome to STYLE.CA". web.archive.org. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  11. ↑ http://www.iconiamoda.com/revista/extras/iconews2.html

External links