The last time I touched down at Shanghai Fashion Week in March 2019, nine months before the Covid-19 outbreak, the Chinese economy was booming and the event, brimming with energy, was poised to make the leap to fashion’s major league.
Six years later, a lot has changed — but not all for the worse.
During the pandemic, when China was closed to the world, buyers embraced local designers, giving the country’s domestic fashion scene a boost. Amid the post-Covid boom that followed, the focus returned to international brands. But the downturn that’s since hit the country’s luxury market has come with renewed interest in local labels, said key sources including Tasha Liu of Labelhood, Zemira Xu of Tube Showroom, Yeli Gu of Ontimeshow, Ying Zhang of Not Showroom, Lv Xiaolei (aka Madame Lv) of the Shanghai Fashion Designers Association and the many designers I met backstage.
0 of 31
The aesthetic climate has also changed — not just in response to global trends (back in 2019, we were in the thick of Demna’s Balenciaga), but also in the way local designers think about Chinese identity. The last time I came to Shanghai Fashion Week, it was all about bold styles and embracing the future: Most designers seemed to have little interest in their Chinese roots. Now, a rediscovery of traditional styles and craft is underway, which brought a sense of energy to this week’s proceedings, despite the state of the market.
ADVERTISEMENT
The offer this season ran the gamut from the warped ladylike glamour of Jacques Wei to Joyce Bao’s wonderfully pixie-style take on romance that resembled an LSD trip dreamt in lingerie pieces found somewhere in the attic. Susan Fang’s knack for decoration was romantic too, but in a more sugary, fairy-tale way. (Her latest collection, shown on the catwalk in Milan with support from Dolce & Gabbana, appeared in Shanghai as a static installation, but this allowed guests to better savour her handwork.)
0 of 33
Overall, one hungered for greater originality: Among the top references this week were Prada and Miu Miu, as well as Glenn Martens’ Diesel and Uma Wang, who has created a highly influential perfectly-imperfect aesthetic with a soulful modern take on Chinese dressing. But heavy referencing is a problem across the global fashion system, not just in China, and many of the designers that showed in Shanghai this week took their inspirations to (relatively) new places.
Jingwei Yin’s work at Oude Waag, one of the highlights of the season, can be traced to early Rick Owens, and yet Yin is no copyist: His way with cut-outs and asymmetry, and his take on sexy are absolutely personal, and captivating in their mix of glam and doom, which skilfully sidesteps goth. Ili Node was another highlight, with an air of Ann Demeulemeester in the piling up and peeling off of organic shapes, while for Xu Zhi it was all about delightfully dancing fringes and earthy textures, with a whiff of Isabel Marant. At Shushu/Tong, the shapes and the attitude, not to mention the bags and the headbands, referenced Miu Miu, but the keen use of colour showed originality.
Metropolitan dressing is often high on the minds of Chinese designers, with the pendulum now swinging away from the street — with the exception of Private Policy, which felt a bit late with its urban jungle aesthetic — towards unabashed femininity.
There was a heavy Dsquared2 thing going on at Mark Gong, complete with Y2K Paris Hilton references, and yet the outing was without doubt catchy. The Diesel vibes over at Marrknull were unmistakable, but the goings had a harsh swiftness to them that, if not quite original, felt unexpected. Within a setting that resembled office cubicles, Yirantian delivered a smart take on “working girl” attire that avoided the classic eighties heavy-shouldered nods in favour of a demure yet dangerous edge.
Although acerbic and in need of some fine-tuning, Je Cai was a genuine surprise: His idea of marrying the modular and the seductive was full of potential, offering a way to deal with multitasking and occasion dressing that felt both logical and sexy.
0 of 36
The outdoors was big this season: In the wake of the pandemic, many Chinese consumers have embraced wellbeing and nature. Fashion has followed suit, with Swaying/Knit leading the way this season with a collection that married cozy domesticity with grungy 1990s elongation. Knitwear is having a moment in China, with the playful brand Short Sentence offering another highlight. As for gorpcore, it came with a certain cuteness at Garçon by Garçon while it got punky and sweet at Aubruino.
The number of designers showing in Shanghai is huge, and while established brands such as Ep Yaying and Comme Moi can look a little stale on the catwalk, there were plenty of smaller outings that felt properly fresh: Papi Lav’s teenage romance, Le Ngok’s incongruous take on playfulness and the pixilated fashion drama of Zita Tan.
ADVERTISEMENT
But the best shows of the season were those that expressed a convincingly modern take on Chinese dressing. What Austin Wang and Yangson Liu keep doing at Ao Yes, playing around with the efficiency and starkness of the Mao suit, is remarkable, and the community gathered at the show, all wearing the label’s clean mandarin collar jackets, roomy trousers and pleated coats. Ao Yes explores the liberating power of the uniform: how something thought to conceal individuality can actually highlight it, and its latest outing was a variation on this theme. The bows and ribbons were unnecessary, but when the goings stuck to playful strictness it was elating.
0 of 30
It was Samuel Guì Yang, however, who really stole the show with a sensual, layered, powerful take on Chinoiserie. Truth be told, Guì Yang, who is a quiet fashion force to be reckoned with, has always been connected to his own Chinese roots. Qipao shapes and pyjamas have been a part of his language since day one, with each collection adding another nuance to a fashion language that is as compact as it is vibrant. This season the goings got particularly seductive, the palette painterly.
If there is a talent Shanghai can export to Paris, it’s Guì Yang and it’s probably time.
