SFW showcases mature Chinese design
Print Edition
THE biannual Shanghai Fashion Week (SFW) presented 45 runway shows for 2014 fall/winter at Shanghai Xintiandi Taiping Lake over a week, from April 9 to 17.
Established in 2001, the fashion week provides a stage especially for Chinese independent designers to showcase their works.
The Chinese designers brought forth more mature and international collections this year. More than half of the shows were presented by independent designers like Qiu Hao (QIUHAO), Liao Xiaoling (Content), Ji Cheng (JI CHENG x sheme), Han Lulu (Hán Lù Lù) and Tang Jia (Jade en Plus). Many of the designers already have retail stores and boutiques in Shanghai.
Foreign brands like Oasis from Britain and Dsquared from Italy also joined the fashion week.
QIUHAO
One of the most important people in the Chinese fashion industry, award winning designer Qiu Hao, wowed the audience with his 2014 fall/winter collection featuring stunning cashmere and wool coats, dresses and accessories.
The design of this season featured exaggerated shoulder detail, asymmetrical tailoring, beautifully constructed and proportional split thin lines on the black wool pieces.
The large knotted clutch wrapped on one’s hand can be untied and use as a scarf.
Qiu has designed a series of works in a gentle pink color, a highlight in a palette of subtle, mild and rich textured colors like grey, olive green, black and ivory.
Qiu holds a master’s degree in womenswear fashion at Central Saint Martins in London. Upon graduation in 2006, he returned to Shanghai and launched his own label, QIUHAO. His knitwear collection at the Palais de Tokyo during Couture Fashion Week 2008 won the prestigious Woolmark Prize.
Jade en Plus
Inspired by British actress Tilda Swinton and her roles as Jadis the White Witch in the “The Chronicles of Narnia” series and Eve the vampire from “Only Lovers Left Alive,” the 2014 fall/winter show of Jade en Plus, with the theme “Double Life,” is all about contrasts — black and white, romanticism and chivalry, and day and night, to express the two sides of women. The designer and brand founder, Tang Jia, wielded mixed textures of leather, fur and silk, blending French fashion while seeking innovative philosophy to create a unique sharp and elegant urban style.
With an emphasis on spiffy cutting and ornate detail, the show’s first half presented the “evil witch” black collection that’s Gothic and intriguing, while the pure white collection in the second half conveyed the majestic white queen. Tang established the brand in 2007. It means “jade and beyond” in French.
He Yan
On the fourth day of SFW, Dong Liang, the concept store showcasing cutting-edge, original Chinese design, staged six runway shows by Chinese designers whom it has long been cooperating with.
Among the six shows, the one by designer He Yan was ultra refreshing. Since her brand debut in the early 2000s, He has managed to remain true to her distinct style. Her well-gestured details and refined femininity spoke a classic yet sensuous language with a modern accent. The minimalist dresses, subtle Oriental feeling, and impeccable tailoring made her collection stand out among the rest.
Moreover, she collaborated with a local modern dance artist for a choreographed presentation, a beautiful surprise for the fashion week.
HÁN LÙ LÙ
Han Lulu, the founder and designer of this local brand, specializes in designs that match creativeness and practicability perfectly. Promoting multi-use design features and the concept of “light formal dress,” the collection included ready-to-wear and custom-tailored gowns, and wedding dresses.
This season, Han blended the simple yet decorative Art Deco style from a unique perspective that expresses the metropolitan style in sharp lines.
Apart from the classic black, white and grey colors, Han also used red and ginger colors that bring a splash of brightness to fall and winter.
Han graduated with a master’s degree at the Instituto Marangoni School of Fashion Design in Milan, and has been the first Chinese fashion designer to be a consultant for renowned wedding dress conglomerate Yumi Katsura.
Content
For this season, the brand founder and designer Liao Xiaoling worked with artist Lu Yang to create a colorful, edgy and space-feeling collection.
Filled with wild curled hair, huge brightly colored platform shoes, bags that show the Chinese characters 生 (live) and 死 (die) as well as strange props like a stethoscope, Content brought a blast of daring and street hippie designs onto the runway.
The brand uses clothing as the medium to pass on fleeting information to express the designer’s attention to urban and contemporary culture. The team is made up of fashion designers, architects, artists, graphic designers, photographers and musicians.
The unique style of the brand is the direct design language of reflecting images onto clothes to present different ideas.
Fanny’s F•UR
The theme for this season’s collection was eternity, expressed through three groups of designs: “dream begins,” “splendid transformation” and “eternal Fanny’s FUR.” It represented the happy and eternal transformation from young girl to mature woman. This modern wedding dress brand was founded by Fanny Ng, the Hong Kong designer and creator of high-end fashion brand FUR Concept. Since the wedding dress is no longer perceived as a wedding tradition, the bride instead tends to pay more attention to her personal style and general desire when choosing the perfect dress. Fanny founded Fanny’s FUR to merge art and fashion into one unique, desirable brand.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
