Alison Mary Ching Yeung
Fashion designer Alison Mary Ching Yeung is the founder of Maryching, an up-and-coming luxury shoes and accessories brand that’s proud to call itself Chinese. The label’s fans include Elton John, Cameron Diaz and Paris Hilton, and can be found in Hong Kong’s Shangri-La hotels. She talks to June Ng about making the most of her mixed identity and harnessing the potential of her motherland.
I’m mixed-race. My dad is Chinese and my mom is English. I don’t feel that I really fit into either side. In England, I feel more Chinese, but in China, I see myself as English.
I was born in Canberra, Australia, and I went to boarding school in Britain at age 10. The boarding school experience definitely made me independent. It made me boisterous too—I’m definitely a tomboy.
My upbringing was very international. My father went to Australia to study and became a civil servant there. As we were growing up, we’d move to a new country every few years.
At university, I had to study business because my father didn’t think that fashion was a viable career. We struck a deal: if I did my business degree, then he’d support me while I tried to make it in fashion. He thought that I’d give up on my dream within three years.
I first worked at an equity firm. The company I worked for bought a fashion label and restructured it. I got to see the business side of fashion, which was useful in helping me understand how to run my own label.
I first visited Shanghai on business. I very much enjoy it there. A lot of people compare Shanghai today to New York in the 1930s. It’s very vibrant; everything is buzzing.