Wong was born and raised in San Francisco's
Chinatown neighborhood. His father was an
accountant and his mother a
homemaker from
New Orleans. By the age of 14, Wong was
silk-screening fabrics and making his own clothes, shoes, and accessories. At the urging of his art teacher, Wong dropped out of high school at 15 and studied at the Pacific Fashion Institute in San Francisco. Wong collaborated with filmmaker
Steven F. Arnold, protégé of Salvador Dalí, to create costumed for
the Cockettes. This led to collaborations with Dali himself. Wong created costumes for Dali and exhibited his creations at the opening of
Dalí Theatre and Museum in
Figueras, Spain in 1974. Wong often appeared in public dressed in full costume as a mythological Chinese trickster called the Monkey King, a role he played for Dali. His partner Jesus Santiago also designed with him. He also produced garments for
Henri Bendel. Wong, who was
HIV positive, died of
leukemia at age 40 in 1990. The design was a 1973 patchwork vest that appeared in a 1974 reference book
Native Funk & Flash. "I'm very flattered that people are looking at my sources of inspiration. This is how I work. I've always said I'm looking at vintage clothes." Ghesquière said. After the controversy,
Cameron Silver's vintage boutique Decades on
Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles celebrated the work of Wong. Silver assembled
Live the Fantasy, a retrospective exhibit and sale of pieces from the Wong family collection. The patchwork vest was the only garment not for sale, it was later included in the exhibition
Iconic to Ironic: Fashioning California Identity at the
Oakland Museum of California. == References ==