THE TAILOR’S PORSCHES

The Tailor’s Porsches

Taiwanese tailor Sheng-Hao Lee shows us around Taipei in his two Porsches.

Sheng-Hao Lee’s passion for Porsches began with his 991 GTS. It was his first car, a love at first sight, and a reward for years of dedication and hard work. When the time came to choose, he sought out something timeless. The 991.1, the last naturally aspirated generation, struck the perfect balance between modern precision and mechanical purity. Its elegant lines, its visceral sound - it felt just right. To this day, he has no plans of parting with it.

Once you experience a 911 however, there’s no turning back. And stopping at just one? Rare. After acquiring the GTS, Lee immersed himself in the Porsche world - collecting memorabilia, reading books and visiting workshops to understand the brand beyond the driver’s seat. Two years later, his wife gifted him an oil painting of his dream car: a silver 964. Not long after, an identical car came up on the market - a manual 964 with silver paint with a sunroof. At that moment, he knew it was meant to be.

In 2013, Lee founded his tailoring brand Gaute Bespoke, a bespoke service that has its origins in his years working Taipei’s textile markets, from which he then trained under the master tailors of Japan and Shanghai. Today, as both creative director and master tailor, Gaute’s boutiques in Taipei and Taichung stand testament to his ideals, where classic technique meets contemporary form.

For our night shoot, we traced Taipei’s old town, from Monga to Dadaocheng. The lantern-lit streets, the scent of aged wood and spice, the echo of footsteps against historic archways. Here Lee’s love for design first took shape. The following day, we returned to Taichung, his hometown, where his career began. Against the sculpted curves of the Taichung National Theatre - Toyo Ito’s architectural masterpiece - Lee’s 991 GTS stood in quiet harmony. The theatre’s grand opening coincided with the release of his Porsche, two definitive works of design from the same era.