Wallace Kwan (关锦雄), who has been steeped in Hong Kong's fashion world for over two decades, has worked as a buyer, designer, and creative director. In recent years he founded WALLACE STORE, turning his long-standing interest in 1990s fashion and designer archives into a platform for sharing, researching, and re-viewing vintage designs.

In one photo shoot, he did not bring out the most sought-after, highest-priced pieces on the market, but instead chose two mid-1990s Jean Paul Gaultier items—a Junior Gaultier blazer and a Gaultier Jeans T-shirt, both secondary lines from Gaultier at the time.

Secondary lines may seem today like just one tier in a brand's commercial structure, but for young people first encountering fashion in the 80s and 90s, their significance was far more complex than their price positioning. At the time, mass-brand collaborations were not yet common, and a young person in their early twenties who was obsessed with a designer but could not afford the main line often first truly owned the fashion world they aspired to through a secondary line. Wallace recalls that he would pair Gaultier with secondhand Levi's 501s and a pair of Dr. Martens 9-eyelet boots—a way of dressing he learned from the British magazine i-D, and a shared memory with his brother in their twenties. Picking up these two garments again today, what returns first is not the collection year or market value, but the feeling of being drawn to Gaultier for the first time—avant-garde, rule-breaking, bold, always seeming to walk one step ahead of their peers.

Regarding archives, Wallace has his own view: "Archive does not equal classic; classic is timeless, and time is like a proof." In his view, an archive can be chosen and preserved, but a classic cannot be declared by collectors alone—it must be washed by time. It may not be the most perfect or best-selling work of its year, or even the generally acknowledged best, but if years later no one else can be found who does it the same way, it gradually detaches from its era and becomes something that cannot easily be replaced.

He also admits that his first principle in collecting is the designer himself: he only preserves creators he truly likes, and from there seeks the collections, craftsmanship, or designs that best represent them. Some pieces are kept because they are important, others purely out of sentimental attachment. "Whether something is worth preserving is a very personal matter." Museums need to build systems, and brand archives need to account for their own history, but private collections have no such obligation; a piece can be kept because of an era, a designer, or even a private memory. Precisely for this reason, a private archive is often more about its individuality than its completeness.

Wallace also mentions a line from Japanese streetwear godfather Nigo: "The future is in the past." As a collector, Nigo does not simply seal old items away in a warehouse, but re-translates beloved design elements from the past into contemporary products, so that people who never experienced that era can also encounter the culture of an older time through new clothing. Wallace believes private collectors can influence the next generation's understanding of fashion history in exactly this way.

Therefore an archive is not merely looking backward; it is more like a door left open. An old garment lets people return to a vanished era, and also lets the next person set out again from there. When Wallace picks up the Gaultier he loved in his twenties once more, the clothing does not trap him in nostalgia—instead it reminds him why he first fell in love with fashion.

Source: #ReelsOfIcons Interview with Wallace Kwan (关锦雄): "An old garment lets us return to a vanished era, and also lets the next person set out again from there." · Originally published 2026-09-25