Zhou Xiangyu: Chinese Design Without Chinese Elements

Zhou Xiangyu:

Designer archives

Zhou Xiangyu (Xander Zhou), China's newest designer, graduated from Den Haag, Holland.

The college, founded in Jeroen van Tuyl, founded its own studio in 2007, and founded its own brand Xander Zhou. It has a wide range of interests and is full of energy. In doing so, it also hosts the editor in chief of fashion culture magazine, interacts with mature brands, acts as a guide for movie costumes, and provides fashion models for the stars in the red carpet of foreign film festivals. It is the only Chinese designer who has been invited to hold a show in London men's wear week.

No Chinese elements.

London's men's week two months ago pushed Zhou Xiangyu to the most prominent position in Chinese fashion circles.

The 30 year old Chinese designer is on the cusp, except that he is the first London.

The only Chinese designer on Zhou is largely due to his lack of a clear Chinese element in the release of London Fashion week. Some people are in an uproar: if there is no Chinese element, how to embody the identity of Chinese designers, some people have expressed affirmation and appreciation of Zhou Xiangyu's design without emphasizing the Chinese elements, and feel that Chinese design is in line with the international standard.

As a Chinese designer, he is often surrounded by such problems as "why Chinese designers don't use Chinese elements?" and slowly, the problem develops into "why do Chinese young designers not use Chinese elements?"

Asked much, Zhou Xiangyu came to the conclusion that you probably didn't even know what the Chinese element was.

"Chinese elements are not symbols or styles."

In Zhou Xiangyu's view, the designer is only a personalized occupation. In design, using Chinese elements is not related to cultural inheritance. It is not a way for designers to prove their existence, nor is it a designer's job.

Fashion is only a reflection of the mirror and fragment of the times, and it has no strength to carry all the national cultural heritage.

Chinese elements and Chinese culture have a better way of inheritance -- for example, not to demolished the old alleys and old buildings! "Zhou Xiangyu said.

Cut the design and start again.

Zhou Xiangyu classified his design on T as "selfish, self satisfied design".

When he was in University in Holland, he made some design works and was praised by many people. He felt very young and energetic and wanted to be commercialized quickly.

In order to cater to the market, he made many sexy women's clothes, obsessed with sales figures and became blind.

"I went into this business because I liked it very much, but suddenly I felt sick. It was a terrible thing.

Later, I thought, if they were not cut off, they would be displayed in the store and sold, so I would definitely do the next one. So I cut them all out, which is the best end to this experience.

This experience also made Zhou Xiangyu "selfish" in design. Only the design of "selfishness" and the feeling of self satisfaction can keep his design innovation and vitality.

Unlike some designers who deliberately emphasize their own styles, he even avoids the so-called style. "I don't like to have a style from the beginning to the end, not like every season. It's always looking for breakthroughs and excitement. It's always experimenting.

My understanding of men's clothing in this period will become a new style of men's wear.

In retrospect, Zhou Xiangyu's design in recent years is radical, experimental, conceptual, and simple.

He never deliberately emphasized the trend. Most of his design inspiration came from friends and life around him. He made a lot of interesting friends from all walks of life, and actively and passively discovered things that he had never tried before.

When he was not designing, he would travel and enjoy life.

Clothing is more like a personalized voice producing tool for him, expressing his different thoughts and feelings at different times.

The design is without nationality, and it is entirely the designer's personal expression.

If it is a Chinese, in order to flaunt Chinese design, it has been a sign of self doubt that Chinese symbols have been used in the design.

Therefore, I always insist on my pursuit of fashion.

Dialogue

Image is more important than selling.

Interviewer: if you use a word to summarize your design, what is it?

Zhou Xiangyu: many adjectives can be used in my design. The most appropriate word is contradictory contradiction.

I am a contradictory person. I am a hedonism and a workaholic. I am very rational when I think emotionally in design. These contradictions are often intertwined, that is, contradictory hedging.

Reporter: do you seem to deliberately avoid Chinese elements?

Zhou Xiangyu: it is not deliberate. Our generation and foreign contemporaries' growth environment, education, and the information they are able to contact now are almost the same. There are no obvious national boundaries.

Throughout the world, the history of fashion in Chinese history is not obvious. The history of fashion is not long. There is a lot of things to learn and progress.

Don't use it in order to use Chinese elements. The key depends on whether it can express what you want to express before it can be used.

Reporter: now China's cutting-edge designers are facing the problem of commercialization of works. How do you think about this?

Zhou Xiangyu: China's economy is developing very fast. I think this is fast and even frightening. Many things become impatient.

We do not have a successful experience of Chinese predecessors to learn, and now it is in a world market competition environment, so we should be more cautious.

Chinese technology is very strong, but the brand image is not very concerned about, blindly expand and develop, in fact, brand image is more important than selling, especially young designers, the road ahead is still very long, if too urgent to divert the image, want to come back will cost a lot.

Reporter: in addition to designers, you have magazine sidelines, stylists and other "sideline". How does this affect your design?

Zhou Xiangyu: I am a very energetic person. These sideline can consume my extra energy.

The theme of each season is the performance of my best ideas, which is most suitable for my time. But in addition to the design theme, I have many themes and many ideas. "Sideline" can make me do not waste the idea that I never use.

Through these sideline, I can have more cooperation with my friends and have more fun.

The fashion system in China is not perfect. Apart from a few good friends who are good stylists, it is difficult to find good stylists, and I am able to guarantee the integrity of the images and ideas from beginning to end by accumulating the role of stylist and photographers.