Taiwan Night Market Fashion 1

July 18th, 2016

In addition to their reputation for novelty foods, night markets in Taiwan also offer an almost endless variety of cheap goods, particularly clothing and accessories. Some of the fast, low-cost garments found at Taiwanese night markets are amusing, quirky, provocative, bizarre, or even incoherent, though some of it is also quite clever. My understanding is that many of the more unusual products originates in China, where massive factories churn out garments emblazoned with English text and pop culture references without regard for semantic meaning. This is almost certainly the result of copying passages from print or online media, using machine translation, or sheer laziness, but it might also be for aesthetic effect. Transcription errors are common, particularly when popular designs are copied by competing factories. Observed on the scale of years there is something almost evolutionary at work in night market fashion—styles mutate and are subject to a kind of natural selection. To celebrate the absurdity of this curious cultural phenomena I have assembled about 40 photos from my many visits to the night markets of Taiwan. Enjoy!

Life fast live forever, flashy version — Live fast, live forever! Inexplicable satanic hipster fashion as seen at Tonghua Night Market. This looks like a second-generation copy of the black and white original.

Never give up hope — “BE. YOURSE / never give up hope / do not give up their / THERE IS HOPE”. Bonus: “ONE OF MY FRIEND / If Do you know / we friendship / one of my friends”.

The Bible: believe in yourself choose it — The Bible / believe in yourself choose it / that suit for you.

Forever computer divergently — Not individually amusing but I like the combination.

Do not want to work — I actually bought the “do not want to work” shirt.

Meteor fist — METEOR FIST. I like how this shop is somewhat fancy and nice but then you’ve got something with skulls that says “KILL ALL”.

No boyfriends no problems — NO BOYFRIENDS NO PROBLEMS. Maybe your problem was having more than one?

High right new people king classic — High right new people / BYULA / king classic. Random stuff from the streets of Keelung.

Strong rhythm at Lehua Night Market — Nosegay: strong rhythm, as seen at Lehua Night Market.

Endless aching need — Such exquisite gibberish.

If you woke up this morning… most outstanding insulin!

Blow me one last kiss — Blow me (one last kiss).

Rocksteady drunkard's dream — Rocksteady / drunkard’s dream.

Every day beautiful — EVERY DAY BEAUTIFUL (derp).

Nibbuns Chinglish fashion in Ruiguang Night Market — NIBBUNS?

Want to be a unique? Keep Instagram chronological please!

I'll be a plastic toy — “I’ll be a plastic toy”.

You gave me a love bling… or maybe “bung”? Kerning is hell.

Cocaine and caviar, possibly a copy of a Western streetwear design.

Heroin style — This is the classic / not allowed to miss / HEROIN STYLE POPLILARITY / glorious moment every day.

Kiss of devil — Let us maintain good moral / Kiss of Devil / Lecherous man must punish / We have to save them / universal love.

Hate you super normal — Hate you / super normal.

Today warm breeze comes — A missing image with a caption: today warm breeze comes.

Idiocracy shirt in real life — I actually had to check whether this shirt was stolen straight out of *Idiocracy*.

Skeletal prayer — Hail Satan! (With pink nail polish.)

Satanic hipster fashion in Taiwan — More satanic Disney hipster fashion.

Don't trust anyone — Don’t trust anyone.

My mom says I'm special (redux) — My mom says I’m special so, fuck you. A classic from Zhongli Night Market.

Our aim is to keep this bathroom clean. Gentlemen, it’s shorter than you think…

Keep your head up — FUCK YOUR PHONE KEEP YOUR HEAD UP.

Fry day I'm in love — Fry day I’m in love. This is a clever reference to the hit song *Friday I’m In Love* by The Cure, but is it likely that anyone here realizes this?

Most of these photos were captured at the Tonghua (通化), Raohe (饒河), and Lehua (樂華) night markets in the Taipei area and the Fengjia (逢甲) and Yizhong (一中) night markets in Taichung. If you’re keen to see more unusual stuff from Taiwan check out my posts about road safety dummies and scooter stickers.