Chinese Fashion Designers Monthly - March 2021

Over the past month, crossover collaborations among new fashion designers have continued to be very active. These collabs include Gentle Monster, Naive Blue Photo Studio, and a creative brand inspired by Li Jiaqi’s pet dog, NEVER’S FAMILY, as well as the century-old American brand Stanley.

In other big news, Chinese designers Rui Zhou and Shuting Qiu have been recently announced as finalists for the eighth LVMH Prize Young Designer Award organized by French luxury giant LVMH.

Crossovers

1) Designer brand TYAKASHA has collaborated with Korean girls’ clothing brand Kirsh and, in a separate campaign, with Naive Blue Photo Studio.

TYAKASHA (Tong Yun) and Kirsh have launched a joint collection.

As new students enrolled in school, Naive Blue has teamed up with “TYAKASHA_KIDS” to organize its enrollment photo campaign for new students enrolled in school, with TYAKASHA providing Japanese, British and American style college clothing.

2) Street brand Randomevent (Hong Yang) and the century-old American brand Stanley have launched a co-branded thermos. Based on the Stanley classic bottle, the surface of which is laser engraved with Randomevent’s metal oval label, it combines classic outdoor fashion with street fashion.

3) Designer brand Sankuanz (Shangguan Zhe) and Korean brand Gentle Monster have collaborated on a sunglass collection called “Cilice”, which features three colorways and an exclusive bag for each.

4) Chinese designer Dingyun Zhang and shoe brand Birkenstock have launched co-branded products.

Birkenstock, a century-old German shoe brand, has teamed up with students from Central Saint Martins in London to create a joint product. The work of Chinese designer Dingyun Zhang was selected. He applied a wide contour and puffer jacket-like texture to the classic Birkenstock styles. Leather was used on the upper, and the latex footbed bears the brand name and size printed in silver. Two colorways are currently available on the Birkenstock website.

5) XU ZHI has collaborated with NEVER’S FAMILY, a creative brand inspired by Li Jiaqi’s pet dog, on a capsule collection

Designer brand XU ZHI (Xuzhi Chen) has released its Fall/Winter 2021 collection. One of the highlights of the show was the debut of XU ZHI’s capsule collection with NEVER’S FAMILY, a creative brand inspired by China’s top beauty influencer Li Jiaqi’s pet dog. The collection follows XU ZHI’s signature knitting and embroidery techniques, and takes the concept of NEVER’S FAMILY’s new project “NEVER MIND CAFE”, in the hope of bringing everyone a dose of warmth and optimism, just like NEVER’S FAMILY’s companionship does.

6) Knitwear designer Huang Shasha (swaying) has collaborated with Li Ximi, founder of design studio Ximi Li Design and furniture design brand URBANCRAFT, combining concepts from clothing and furniture to create an art installation “Inside Out”, which will be exhibited at 2021 Shenzhen Creative Week.

7) In support of the deaf community, designer brand Private Policy (Haoran Li and Siying Qu) and artist Chella Man are launching a limited edition of co-branded accessories, with 50% of the profits from sales going to the Deaf Queer Resource Center, a U.S. non-profit charity organization, to protect the rights of the deaf.

8) Accessories designer brand ATELIERSÓ (Summer Zhao & Olivia) and Chongqing boutique SND have launched the "White Valentine's Day" co-branded ring.

Online/Offline Channel Expansion

9) Designer brand Uma Wang’s (Wang Zhi) Chengdu boutique has opened at Phase I, Chengdu Jingrong Hui Shopping Center.

10) Bag brand Songmont (Song Fu) has opened its first physical shop at Indigo Shopping Center, Beijing.

11) Streetwear brand Randomevent (Hong Yang) has opened a pop-up shop at Kerry Centre in Hangzhou.

12) Jewelry designer brand HEFANG Jewelry (Hefang Sun) has opened a physical shop at David Plaza, Zhengzhou, which is the brand's first shop in Henan province. It has also opened a pop-up shop at Guangzhou K11.

13) Designer brand ZI II CI IEN (Zhi Chen) has opened its official flagship shop on Tmall.

Prize

14) Chinese designers Rui Zhou and Shuting Qiu have been shortlisted for the semi-finals of the eighth LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers.

The shortlist for the eighth edition of the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers, organized by French luxury giant LVMH, was recently announced. It included eight womenswear designers, five menswear designers, six unisex brands and one menswear and womenswear brand, with designers ranging in age from 25 to 39 years old. They are from the USA, UK, France, Italy, South Africa, Nigeria, China, Korea, Japan, Lebanon, Albania and Colombia. Among the Chinese contestants are 27-year-old Rui Zhou’s unisex label RUI, and 27-year-old Shuting Qiu’s eponymous womenswear label SHUTING QIU.

Events

15) Designer Haizhen Wang has presented Haizhen Wang's Fall/Winter 2021 womenswear collection, “Dreams and Synthesis in the Theater”. Inspired by the world of the theater, this tenth anniversary show is based on the romantic and fantastic imagery of theater characters, with “lady boss” as the main character, to create a condensed dream world synthesis.

16) Designer Fang Yannan has presented SUSAN FANG's Autumn/Winter 2021 collection, which is inspired by author Carlo Rovelli's book The Order of Time and explores the perception of time. This season, the designer created a sustainable fabric called “Air-Ribbon”, using colored ribbons and tulle to create tiny balloon type surface textures that complement crystalline bead strands. Taiwanese singer Amber Kuo and her band Yider also performed.

17) Knitwear brand nume (STEVEN OO & XUAN) has teamed up with boutique in the PARK to present a spatial installation based on the theme of “aura” in Shanghai. The installation consists of a “brain” wrapped in bubble knitted fabrics and a “neuron tentacle” that transmits and communicates outwards.

18) Designers Xuzhi Chen and Julio Ng have been invited to participate in the "50 x 50 NEW BORN" fashion and art exhibition.

FASHION ZOO has presented "50 x 50 NEW BORN", a fashion and art exhibition in Shanghai. The organizers invited distinguished creators from different fields of fashion and art from all over the world to create works on the themes of "New Born" and "Sustainability". In the exhibition, designer Xuzhi Chen used an extension of his video installation Al Paraíso to create a poetic composition of a dancer's gestures in yarn, while designer Julio Ng used a video to provoke self-reflection, inspiring subconscious thoughts and changes for sustainability.

｜Photo Credit: Brands’ Weibo and WeChat official accounts

｜By Elisa, You Jia