A feast for the eyes of fashion followers, last month's Shanghai Fashion Week saw an array of designs, cuts, fabrics and colour. Much of the 2010 fall/winter collections are as much about staying classy as revealing your inner rebellion, and designers are offering lots of wondrous things to wear later this year.

 

 Qinyi and Katti Zoób

Qinyi and Katti Zoób's joint show was a fusion of Chinese and Hungarian traditions. Their 2010 fall/winter collection blends sexy Chinese cheongsam cutting with iridescent green blue peacock motifs – a symbol of femininity in Hungary – and integrates sophisticated deep purples and greys. The futuristic metallic pink and silver streamer dresses, which reveal hints of skin tone, take you on a sublime trip beyond 2010.

 

 

 

Uma Wang

 Uma Wang makes beauty seem effortless. Combining Bohemian and vintage style, intriguing textures of cashmere knits and ethnic minority prints from northwest China, Wang’s fall/winter clothes have an element of purity and simplicity – allowing each woman’s true spirit to shine through with sophistication. 

 

 

 

 

 Pari Chen

Inspired by water, Pari Chen’s collection features an assortment of free-flowing designs, with both natural nudes and bold colours. Versatile, paper-like silks, with romantic layers and gathering, made for constraint-free silhouettes.

“In every person’s busy and rushed lives, we can reflect with water,” Chen says. “Water can take on the different shapes of its containers, and you can add things to change its flavour. You can say the same about our lives – this freedom is very rich and plentiful. It can give us a lot of things.”

 

 

Guo Pei

Well-known for designing evening gowns for film actress Zhang Ziyi, Guo Pei established her company Mei Gui Fang (Rose Workshop) in 1996 and has been one of China’s top designers ever since. Her white and cobalt dresses – with Chinese calligraphy designs resembling porcelain – were lower key than her usual overwhelming frocks.

 

 

 

 

Jenny Ji

Much like her hometown of Shanghai, Jenny Ji has an expert eye for making traditional Chinese symbols into modern, fashionable pieces. While past collections have been centred on themes of Chinese chess pieces and the Beijing opera, the blue qinghua tiger inspires her newest wares. Sleek and chic, Ji has again harnessed a piece of Chinese history to make ravishing clothes for the here and now.

 

 

 

 OntFront

Liza Koifman and Tomas Overtoom’s 2010 fall/winter collection is inspired by fast, shiny sports cars like the Lamborghini. The Amsterdam-based menswear brand showed strong and daring designs, marked by well-tailored, grey and white shirts and jackets, marked by simple red details. 

 \

 

Ling Yali

With the exception of her finale pieces – dreamy and swirly white gowns – her show wasn’t so much about wowing crowds, but more about providing a blueprint for how carefree females will want to dress this fall. Ling Yali’s casual line, Earth Crust, is characterised by comfortable, but still stylish, grey wool coats, eccentric printed leggings and white billowy hooded tops.

 

Simon Wang

In his deeply reflective women’s wear collection, the London-trained designer explores the traditional Chinese qipao as a symbol of women’s struggle for equality. Wang’s body-clinging long gowns made with lace, silk and patent leather and accented by slick leggings, showed a modern look for the progressive urban Chinese woman.

A departure from the colourful prints and India-inspired designs from his spring/summer collection, his latest work uses a more limited palette of black, grey and camel tones. “We all know Simon can do colour. A lot of people won’t dare to, but I’m brave enough to use big colours,” Wang says.

“This time though, I wanted a change, and to do something really different. That’s why in this series you can see something that’s a bit moodier, more enlightening than before. “

 

 Where What Who 

It’s both a throwback to retro styling, and a throw forward to artsy futuristic fashion. After the show, the new label’s designers and founders, Danni Tang and Banana Monkey lead singer, Bono Zhang, said their 2010 fall/winter collection – titled Freak Planet – is a fantasy about what clothes may look like a hundred years from now.

The Shanghai fashion duo extended fall’s long looks even further, creating new silhouettes with voluminous folds and pleats on cashmere wool coats, and large shoulder accents on short jackets. Unruly and imaginative, artsy trendsetters should wrap themselves up in Where What Who when this year cools off.

 

 

 

 Ann-Sofie Back

Also shown at London Fashion Week, Ann-Sofie Back’s collection drew inspiration from her Second Life virtual alter ego – an avatar stripper – for a rebellious, conceptual 2010 fall/winter collection. For the strong and confident woman, Back’s wares included see-through tulle dresses and tops, bleached denim separates, angora knits and torn tweed pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

Elysée Yang

Like a romantic scene from an impressionist painting, Elysée Yang’s colour choices are inspired by different sensations of love: Bold scarlets and fiery orange for heated, enchanting romance; beige for the confidence, independence, and tenderness of females; and black for sexiness, but also the heart-felt pain resulting from chaotic love. Organza fabric, gathered into elegant blossoming roses on the dresses, are truly lust worthy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Uma Wang