Paris Fashion Week: five Chinese menswear designers prove they can compete with the best on the world’s biggest stage
Whether it was a collection inspired by the last Chinese emperor, bomber blazer hybrids, reflections on Americana or a doomsday scenario in armoured suits, these designers lit up the Paris catwalks with autumn 2018 collections
China used to be known, unfairly, as a land of derivative design. No longer: a new generation of designers is shining brightly on the international stage.
Having taken London by storm – GQ China supports emerging Chinese talent there – and before hitting New York, all eyes were on Paris Fashion Week, where menswear designers – whether from China, Taiwan or of Chinese descent – blazed a creative trail.
They are following a similar trajectory to Japanese and Korean designers in the past, and 2018 is set to bring even more success if the reaction to their shows at Paris Fashion Week Men’s is anything to go by.
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While Sean Suen and Yang Li, Brandon Sun, Angus Chiang, and Shangguan Zhe, are not the first Chinese designers to grace the Paris haute couture party (that honour belongs to Frankie Xie and his label Jefen, back in 2006), they lit up Paris with their autumn 2018 collections.
Sean Suen
“Any designer would want to show in Paris. This is only the start of the story for Chinese designers reaching out to a global stage,” said Sean Suen during a preview of his collection on January 18. “We still have a lot of work to do, many things to learn.”
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