The Tamesis
“So-called ‘chinoiserie’ is a huge world. It’s impossible to generalize because it involves history… but also modern people living on the streets, color and humor. There’s a lot to learn. I feel like that’s why we don’t like to be restricted… to just one culture, because now, everything is so fluid and mixed.”
Samuel Gui Yang spoke alongside his co-founder and co-designer Erik Litzen. The show that just concluded demonstrated the breadth of a design vernacular refined over more than a decade, conceived through a distinctly Chinese accent and combined according to the grammar of contemporary European fashion. The London-based 2020 LVMH Prize semifinalist and former CSM classmate is exploring a similar liminal space as Shanghai Fashion Week label AO Yes, but in different directions and distances.
The lace-up fasteners, tubular quilting, frog buttons, collars and high double-breasted closure silhouettes seen throughout the collection are all registered as Chinese brands. Designers then obscure the cultural origins of these architectural signals by constructing them using less specific fabrics or unorthodox design twists. So a silk double-sided cheongsam was cut to fall from the right hip and fall to the floor like an evening gown, while a stand-collar zip shirt paired with a matching maxi skirt was cut in washed denim.
Designers and their stylists create further disruption around these jumping signals. The model wore a wood-brown frog-button quilted coat, a stand-collar shirt and a light green suit, with scarlet ribbons trailing from her earrings. A fringed cloak, also scarlet, tied with a blue rope, looked very rustic. In addition to the gauze and feather cloak worn over the raincoat, the headdress clearly made of other clothing, and the square parasol with a black trailing awning that almost obscures the appearance, these details add a non-specific folkloric touch to the overall picture.
There seems to be an underlying story of movement, with characters in transit, conveyed through silk backpacks slung from the hip, rolled blankets, pouches made of Bhutanese paper, and clothing carried like accessories. When asked about the dynamics of their design process when approaching cultural tradition to modernize and recontextualize, Litzen said, “We always try to approach it instinctively. And then, of course, you need to do some work afterwards to make sure it doesn’t end up feeling too close and maybe even cross some lines. We want to be respectful. But we start with intuition and see where that leads us, and then edit.”
