Up And Coming

The established upper echelon of Chinese design – including Jenny Ji, Qiu Hao and Uma Wang – designers who have already won plaudits overseas, generally present Shanghai Fashion Week’s most popular shows. This year, however, when SFW’s Spring Summer edition returns to Shanghai from 9 April to 17 April, it’s the following three young guns we are most excited to check out.

 

Yi Fang Wan

A recent graduate of Central Saint Martin’s renowned womenswear MA programme in London, Yi Fang Wan has lost no time in making a name for herself with her minimalist aesthetic and focus on a constructed, achingly chic femininity.

Having already shown at London Fashion Week in February, Wan is fast scaling the heights of fashion success, but says she is still perfecting her own style, which draws inspiration from martial arts and her heroes, such as Belgian avant-garde designer, Martin Maison Margiela.

With an artistic reach, which goes beyond fashion, Wan is a fan of sculpture and has also designed her own accessories for shows. Where does she see herself in ten years?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I want to be a designer, but not necessarily just in fashion. I'll probably bring other things into it,” she said. “I would really love to have an incorporation with some artists and other designers, maybe doing accessories and jewellery. But yeah, I would see myself as a designer, but not necessarily your typical fashion designer.”

 

 

 

Ban Xiao Xue

 

Since launching his own label in 2012, Ban Xiao Xue has been a busy boy, racking up accolades and hitting the road to promote his considerable design talents. As a finalist for the international Woolmark Prize in 2012/2013, doors began to open for Ban, who has also been invited to show at London Fashion Week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far, Ban has made a name for himself by using unconventional techniques to infuse his clothing with trademark movement and texture. His relatively muted colour palate serves as a backdrop for beautiful fabrics and construction, dramatic draping and, overall, a rather ethereal vision of womanhood.

 

The designer himself, a former creative talent at wellknown Chinese brand, Exception, says he draws much of his inspiration from nature, and many of his deconstructed silhouettes would fit comfortably in a wild, forested dreamscape, trailing a willowy, romantic young heroine along the dewy grass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I became a little nervous when I was awarded the Woolmark Prize, as it means that I will represent China in the global final which brings pressure but also great motivation,” Ban said. “My winning design was inspired by my respect for nature. Nature provides all the beauty to us, and I’m just using my eyes to discover them and put them together.”

 

Web: www.banxiaoxue.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shang Guan Zhe

 

 

Fujian-born, Xiamen-based, Shang Guan Zhe’s ready-to-wear men’s line, Sankuanz, has garnered attention at home and overseas in recent years because of its daring prints and layered cultural messages.

 

 

A lingering fascination with military uniforms and Tibetan culture has been infused in past collections, with many saying the young designer’s Autumn Winter 2013 show at Shanghai Fashion Week outshone one of China’s favourite fashion sons, Haizhen Wang.

 

The wild colours might be the most obvious element of Shang’s clothing, but its real beauty is in the details – the buttonholes and stitching are both rather special. The combination makes for a particularly vibrant, and undeniably fashionable, breath of fresh air.

"I will not do haute couture, and will put my effort on Sankuanz readyto- wear. Now, I don't have financial burdens, so for me, the only difficulty is to find inspiration for my design," Zhe said.

 

Shanghai Fashion Week runs 9 April to 17 April and is generally open to industry insiders and a few lucky fans who ask their most fashionable friends to hook them up.

Web: www.shanghaifashionweek.com