As Chinese designers are worn by Rihanna and Blackpink’s Lisa, and tapped by brands from Fitbit to Vacheron Constantin, it’s clear global fashion has a new force to reckon with

Nov 12 , 2021

Models present creations by designer Jiang Jia during the China Fashion Week in Beijing, in September 2021. Photo: Xinhua

Shanghai-based Zhou Rui’s clothes have been worn by Blackpink’s Lisa and Dua Lipa, while Daniel Chen Xuzhi was shortlisted for the International Woolmark Prize

Rihanna, Pink and Lady Gaga wore Chen Peng’s puffer jackets and the Jiangxi-born designer won the first Yu Prize, announced during Shanghai Fashion Week

When the 26-year-old, Shanghai-based designer Zhou Rui was awarded the 2021 LVMH Karl Lagerfeld Special Jury Prize in September, it placed a global spotlight on the latest generation of Chinese designers. Zhou and Rui, her genderless fashion brand, represents the emerging force of a wealth of home-grown talent hailing from the world’s largest luxury consumer market. The Tsinghua and Parsons graduate interprets fashion as a second skin with her bold designs which have been sported by pop culture sensations Lisa of K-pop’s Blackpink and British songstress Dua Lipa.

For many years, Chinese fashion has been copying the West, but we’ve now developed our own ecosystem and rules ... Designers no longer have this kind of baggage ... and are free to express their vision and identit

Pooky Lee, fashion curator

A creation designed by Laurence Xu during the Beijing Fashion Week in September 2021. Photo: Xinhua

Back in 2018, the now-25-year-old Qiu Shuting’s designs won VFiles Runway 10 and subsequently appeared on the cover of Mando-pop superstar Jolin Tsai’s latest album, all while still a student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, one of the fashion industry’s most prestigious schools.

Meanwhile, 30-year-old Chen Peng’s puffer jackets made it onto the backs of Rhianna, Pink and Lady Gaga just two years after his debut, and the Jiangxi-born fashion maven also stood out from 16 finalists to win the first Yu Prize, announced during Shanghai Fashion Week in April. And then there’s 29-year-old Chen Xuzhi – Daniel to his English-speaking buyers – who made the shortlist for the LVMH Prize and the International Woolmark Prize in 2016, only a year after founding his label.

Zhou Rui was awarded the 2021 LVMH Karl Lagerfeld Special Jury Prize in September for her eponymous label Zhou and Rui. Photo: Zhou Rui

Noticing a theme? Young, mainland Chinese designers are kicking up a storm, and not just at fashion’s bleeding edge. There’s (much) more: 30-year-old Angel Chen’s signature bold colours were injected into Canada Goose jackets and made her H&M’s first-ever Chinese collaborator. More? Vacheron Constantin named 36-year-old Yin Yiqing as its latest ambassador; Onitsuka Tiger joined hands with Shenzhen-born Zhou Shimo’s menswear label Staffonly; Fitbit enlisted vibrant knitwear brand PH5 founded by Chinese duo Lin Wei and Zhang Mijia ... the list goes on.

This new wave of designers rides on the success of veterans Uma Wang and Guo Pei a decade ago, as the country continues to scrape off the stigmatic label “Made in China” – taken often to mean cheaply made counterfeits – to a more complementary “Created in China”.