Oude Waag (Q8847)
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Oude Waag is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Oude Waag |
Oude Waag is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Death is a deeply personal yet equalizing and unifying experience. The act of mourning has the power to bring people together, turning even the most agnostic into spiritual partakers.It was this idea that intrigued Oude Waag’s Jingwei Yin this season. A Buddhist, Yin had never experienced a Christian funeral until the death of a member of his partner’s family. “I was shocked by the spiritual energy,” the designer said, “I had never experienced something like that because in China people avoid talking about death and funerals.” Yin found the experience positive for its capacity to fuel connection between people. This became the crux of his collection, though rather than mortality it was the cultural perspective on death that became his fascination.The proceedings unfolded and concluded with a procession of black dresses. Rather than set a somber tone, the first styles synthesized Yin’s singular brand of sensuality and his light but precise cut. A bouncy bubble hemmed LBD was a sure commercial hit, but the closing looks were the most special: Breezy chiffons and delicate, weightless of jerseys were shirred diagonally across the body or ruched into panels held together by metallic accents. One of these frocks was worn under a cropped jacket whose lapels unfurled from the body and criss-crossed before meeting at the back of the neck. Another had a veil flowing from the S-shaped diagonal seam across its front bodice and wrapping around the model’s head (the headcover a not to Christian funeral garb); the style that followed was cut in vertical chiffon panels that all ran through silver beads (in reference to the way royalty in China would be wrapped in jade stones upon death). A deceptively simple black maxi dress was knitted to contour the body with its swirling ribbed lines (somewhat like Egyptian sarcophagus carvings), and a final cropped jacket imitated the gathering from elsewhere in the collection in lieu of a lapel.Yin’s design language would lend itself well Western celebrities (stylists, time to make some calls). His revealing cuts balance both steaminess and glamour. Yet the real development in this collection was seeing the designer take his preoccupation with the body past merely uncovering it.
His meticulously made bodysuits would surely do well sold as novelty bathing suits, but consider the way Yin used twists and ease to drape unconventional volume into his silhouettes: The waist of a skirt was cut wide to collapse into itself so it appeared roomier, and jackets and bodices were knotted at the center to add frisson and weight to otherwise minimal styles.Runway presentations here in Shanghai can often feature too many looks or feel imbalanced between what’s made for the show and what's meant to be commercial. It’s Yin’s reliance on his technical skill rather than hefty narratives or gimmicks that make him a standout, and what rendered this show a celebration rather than a wake.
17 October 2024
Just over a month ago, Megan Thee Stallion wore a look from Jingwei Yin’s spring 2024 collection for Oude Waag to the Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala. “I was very surprised and very inspired,” said Yin over the phone in the lead up to his fall show. “She gave more power to that outfit, and gave me a new dimension to explore different types of bodies.”Yin is a designer beguiled by the human form. His sinuous, buoyant drapes and considered cuts are meant to both conceal and exalt a woman’s shape. “The Chinese market considers Oude Waag a sexy brand,” said the designer, “but in the Western market when you talk about sexiness, it’s more direct and very straightforward. My work is about showing the body in a very subtle way.” OudeWaag is sexy, surely, but its sensuality is nuanced and complex. It hinges less on uncovering the body and more on the tension with which Yin envelops it. This is a Chinese designer American buyers should pay close attention to.Yin said that he was thinking of fireworks this season, of their paradoxical nature as a symbol of both unifying celebration and perilous weaponry. “It’s a reaction to the world, or to myself,” said Yin. “We have Chinese New Year in January, and it’s all about celebrations, but on the other hand, the market is unpredictable, as is the whole world at the moment.” Yin’s resolve, he said, was to bring “elegance and strength in the face of difficult times.”That much he delivered in spades. What Yin can do with jersey around the body is in a class of its own in terms of gravity defiance—see a piece of black fabric fashioned in the front as a bodysuit and skirt and draped into a seamless cape in the back, or the way he swaddled the body with an overextended sleeve draped into a maxi wrap dress. But this season he stretched further, contrasting these wispy, slinky outbursts with explosive winding drapes in heavier metallic materials and shaggy touches of shearling. His tailored jackets remained razor sharp at the shoulders, but he ventured into new territory in his coats. The cocooning wrap silhouettes recalled both Cristóbal Balenciaga and Azzedine Alaïa in cut and spirit, but looked utterly contemporary in proportions and fabrications.Still, Yin is most impressive when he’s at his most subtle.
A deceptively simple look appears to be a halter blouse styled over a skirt in the front, but turns out to be a single piece of fabric folded over itself and held together by a single seam in the back—equal parts magic trick and technical feat. This is where experience matters most. Shanghai Fashion Week is exciting for its young talents with extravagant ideas and magpie collections, but Yin provides focus and restraint. His counterparts should watch him closely.
28 March 2024
There’s a particular strength to softness, to knowing when to give in and sway rather than stand one’s ground in firmness. The concept in itself is oxymoronic, but part of holding on is knowing when to let go.This is what Jingwei Yin was getting at with his spring 2024 collection for Oude Waag, which found its muse in the Japanese freedivers known as Ama, women who collect abalone and pearls and have built a mythicized community rooted in the independence and strength of the female spirit. To know when to dive deeper or resurface requires a unique understanding of one’s body. It’s a poetic but unmistakable metaphor for what it takes to be resilient.Such is the skill of Yin, a Royal College of Art graduate who founded his label in 2017, that he was able to convey this by way of ingenious draping, tacking, shirring, and tailoring. He did stints at both Haider Ackermann and Hussein Chalayan prior to establishing Oude Waag, but his hand is decisively sexier and significantly more revealing. Not necessarily younger, but certainly contemporary and in line with some of his trendier Western counterparts.“The flowing chiffon brings a sense of floating under the sea as you move,” said Yin after the show, explaining that the many knots he employed as focal points in his draping and as winding details in his tailored pieces—none more enthralling than his opening jacket—were modeled on the shapes of abalone shells and the twists in natural pearls. More literal were his interpretations of fishing nets in the shape of meticulously distressed crochet knitwear. Especially mesmerizing were the trains that billowed from his severely tailored jackets (see looks 10 or 24).Molding fabric around the body the way Yin does is equal parts math and intimacy. That he understands exactly where to gather volume and how to release it was made clear by the way the bodice of a gown cascaded from a necklace, twisted at the navel, and draped loosely at the back, softly caressing the model’s spine the way a wave moves back and forth on the shore.
12 October 2023