Yu Prize, the project founded by Wendy Yu to promote Chinese fashion designers, announced its finalists for 2022 selected by a jury including Lu Xiaolei, Pascal Morand, Renzo Rosso, Sara Sozzani Maino, and Michael Ward.
Here the 10 Chinese brands shortlisted for Yu Prize 2022:
ALIENANT
Alienant is a high-end fashion label from New York city founded by Yuchen Han. Its design keywords are glitch, dreamland and surrealism. The brand developed a unique innovation which consists in a textile called glitched fringe lace.
CHAN CHIT LO
Chan Chit Lo is a unisex brand established in New York by her homonymous designer. The first collection debuted at New York fashion week for FW 2019. Framing fashion as a poetic narrative, Chan Chit Lo’s collections tell stories of subversion and reinterpretation. Mixing the handcrafted with the machine made, imperfection with precision, the uniform with tailor-made, Chan Chit Lo aims to pioneer an independent fashion creative with a clear conscience towards the environment and timelessness.
DIDU
Didu was established in 2019 and is based between Shanghai and Paris. Focusing on shapes and cuts, techniques, and sustainable fabrics, Didu creates feminine, subversion and futurism garments for women, integrating eastern and western cultures in an attempt to break the boundaries of a single cultural concep. In Didu’s collections, gender, society and equality are the everlasting manifesto.
- See Didu FW 22-23 Video presentation
LOUIS SHENGTAO CHEN
Louis Shengtao Chen is the eponymous brand established by designer Louis Chen in 2021. Aimed at challenging the tradition notion of glamour, Louis Shengtao Chen reimagines luxury with an experimental approach, mixing exaggerated colors with unconventional fabrics.
MARRKNULL
The brand is a unisex ready-to-wear brand founded by Mark Wang & Tim Shi in 2016. Marrknull is inspired by the uniquness of Chinese regional culture and aspects of China’s social landscape which relate heavily to identity and tradition. The brand focuses on structural changes in clothing; a combination of unconventional silhouettes and deconstruction methods with traditional Chinese garment structure to reconstructs the old fashioned styles with a sense of humor.
PONDER.ER
Ponder.er is a gender fluid label founded by the creative duo Alex Po & Derek Cheng. With a common interest in exploring the world of menswear through an alternative approach, the creative partnership was formed in 2019 with the intention of challenging gender stereotypes and raising questions against social norms. Ponder.er reinterprets the contemporary men’s wardrobe through dissecting and reconstructing ideas inspired by traditional menswear.
- See Ponder.er SS22 video presentation.
PRIVATE POLICY
Private Policy is a genderless brand founded by Chinese designers Haoran Li & Siying Qu. On the premise of sustainability, the brand focuses on current social issues and youth culture. In 2018, private policy was chosen by "GQ China presents" to hold a runway show at London fashion week. Private Policy became the first Chinese designer brand which was chosen as a “cfda/vogue fashion fund” finalist.
RUOHAN
Ruohan is a luxury womenswear brand established by Ruohan Nie in March 2021. Focusing on exceptional fabrics, impeccable details and precise tailoring, the brand would like to deliver a timeless wardrobe with a subtle attitude. Inspired by travel, art, and all forms of design, the brand embodies the style of modern minimalism typically centered around a neutral color palette.
YIRANTIAN
Yirantian is a brand founded by Yirantian Guo in the U.K. in 2014. The label pays detailed attention to the fabric and creative design of each garment using different tailoring techniques to ensure the high quality of its unique urban-wear for women. In 2015, it was listed amongst the Vogue young talents, and took part in a show in Dubai alongside 25 young designers from all over the world. In 2018, Yirantian was placed on the Forbes 30 under 30 list of industry elites and won the 1436XLabelhood innovation scholarship.
ZI II CI IEN
Zi Ii Ci Ien Is an all-knitwear label dedicated to a young audience and founded the homonymous designer Zi Ii Ci Ien. The designer is ever inspired by the playfulness and cheerfulness embodied in the artworks of Alexander Calder and David Hockney. Working with world-class technicians, Chen aims to challenge the definition of knitting by pushing the potential of advanced machines, applying state-of-art techniques and using unconventional yarns.
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