Whenever we Toronto folk bring up Vancouver designers, Angela Chen is usually one of the first names to come up. The up-and-coming designer has been showing her last few collections at LG Fashion week to garner national recognition of her simple but always well-tailored line OR, which was she launched in New York in 2007. After seeing her spring collection at LGFW we wanted to learn more about the Taiwanese-born, Parsons-educated and Vancouver-based designer. Behold the Q&A below.

You don’t really use much colour in your collections, but this season there was a focus on blues. Why is that?
This season I drew the colour palette from Blue Lagoon which was my inspiration; the natural tones.

What inspired your Spring collection? Where do you generally seek inspiration?
I generally seek my inspiration everywhere. I love people watching.

If you could show on one of the major runways, which would it be? Why?
New York Fashion Week, because my mentors such as Marc Jacobs and Carolina Herrera show their collections there. It would be an honor to be on the same stage as them.

What’s your favourite decade/era for its fashion?
I have many. I love the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.

I don’t think I’ve seen you do gowns before, and you had quite a few in your Spring collection. What made you make that shift?
In my previous collections I have always managed to have at least one or two gowns. This time I just designed a couple extra gowns for customers who want them for their tropical island wedding.

What’s your favourite thing to be doing at 2 a.m. on a Saturday? 2 p.m.?
2am on a Saturday I prefer to be in bed! All tucked in!
2pm I prefer to be sitting in a coffee shop or having afternoon tea somewhere with my sketchbook and people watching!

What’s your definition of amazing style?
I will define amazing style as a woman who is confident in the clothes she wears and rocks it!

By Elli Stuhler