Shang Xia (Q9124)
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Shang Xia is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Shang Xia |
Shang Xia is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Yang Li commissioned 20 kites from master craftspeople in Szechuan to act as a backdrop to a Shang Xia collection that continued and elevated last season’s exploration of flight. Their canopies were printed with designs from this collection, and their spars were fashioned from either bamboo or carbon fiber: That conversation between the traditionally meaningful and the technologically progressive is emblematic of Li’s approach.Li has a knack for creating garments that appear substantial and strong while feeling light and fluid. His three-piece smocking-detail convertible trench in satin and long shirt and pants in cotton voile with enameled, jewelry-inspired fastening were strong examples of that. The smocking theme ran through to little bolero-style high tabards designed to be not-quite outerwear and a petal-hem dress that was smocked at the top and skirted in double-face satin.Topcoats were vertically bisected by lines in color or knit panels that reflected the spine-supporting struts of the Ming-inspired furniture Shang Xia produces. Transparent dresses came layered over gold-laminate printed skirts. Symbols characterizing prosperity and longevity plus the blue rose decoration were drawn from Li’s Chinese upbringing. His edgier, indie side was reflected in tough bubble-sole boots, a fierce qipao mini, and the modularity of garments that could be combined to signal genteel propriety or a punkier attitude. The crescent-moon-opening house clutch was presented in a new smocked leather iteration; other accessories included some exquisitely realistic ronghua flower ornaments in silk and metal. Enamel-heeled shoes whose uppers were inset into teacup porcelain were pretty and spoke to the breadth of the world Li is working to create with this transnationally unique luxury brand.
1 October 2023
In 2010, Yang Li came across an art installation at the Barbican Centre in London which has remained lodged in his memory ever since. Dreamt up by Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, a trained musician, the work featured electric guitars and speakers scattered with birdseed; when a flock of zebra finches landed on the guitars to eat the seed, they produced a live soundscape. “It moved me so much,” recalled Li, speaking backstage before his show for Shang Xia, the Chinese house where he has been creative director for the last 18 months. “It felt like me in the artwork. It’s got the rock ’n’ roll [element] with the guitar, and then this femininity. For me, birds represent freedom, flight, liberation. And they’re highly symbolic in Chinese culture, because they’re the messengers between humans and the heavens.”The artwork became the starting point for what Li loosely referred to as his bird trilogy: this show and the following two will be avian-inspired. He borrowed the guitars, too: a soft Fleetwood Mac instrumental was playing as guests took their seats in a blue-lit room oriented around four Orange amps and an electric guitar. Later, they were treated to a more energetic performance by musician David Simpson.Still, Li was careful not to take his chosen theme too literally. Only a couple of looks featured embroidered birds; some coats and tailoring had cocooning silhouettes he said were passing references to the aerodynamic shape of a bird in flight. Most guests would have taken away a sense of contrast from the show, in keeping with the brand’s stated value of duality (Shang Xia means “as above, so below”—yin and yang is baked into the brand). The long-haired rocker in his hoodie certainly seemed contrary to the clothes, the construction of which was undeniably luxe, Hermès being a significant shareholder in the Chinese brand alongside Exor and founder Jiang Qiong Er.The best looks were those that wore their craftsmanship lightly. A series of cotton checked draped skirts and dresses had a louche sensibility that chimed with the polished take on grunge that’s been gaining ground everywhere this season. Evening options in silk were evidence, Li said, of “minimalism with an Asian touch,” comprising a chic black mini dress with dainty spaghetti straps and a maxi version with a halter-neck tie, as well as roomy shift styles. Almost every look was paired with his bubble-soled basketball sneakers, a youthful element that helped things feel light.Li has big plans.
One of the boxy leather shoulder bags mirrored the shape of a tea box—the brand is launching “a tea concept” for 2023, as well as redesigning its stores. The biggest thing he’s learnt since he set to is “restraint. Balance. Having a point of view,” he said. “All the craftsmanship is important, but it’s a tool for expression. What we want to represent is an attitude and a culture, and from that you access the brand and the products. To be able to have a chance to be part of the conversation and represent my culture on the international stage, that’s why I’m doing fashion.”
2 March 2023
Nine years ago Yang Li, 34, held his first eponymous show at the very same venue he returned to today in his second season as the creative director of Shang Xia. As a little remembrance of a brand he said is currently “having a nap,” music-obsessive Li played the very same track by Michael Gira’s The Angels of Light,Two Women, that soundtracked that long-lost show. Along with the platform winkle pickers, however, this was the loudest expression of Li’s personal identity as he bent his back to shaping something more broadly identifiable. As he observed: “The mission is to create an international Chinese luxury fashion brand. The point of it is to bring Chinese codes and heritage into the global conversation, and to present a beauty that is new.”When he was pitching for this gig, the very first image Li showed John Elkann, the CEO of Exor Group that in 2020 invested around €80 million to become the majority shareholder in the label—along with Hermès—was of Leah Dou in a pink wig. This encapsulation of youthful nonconformism, a generational impulse in China as described by Li, is what he began in earnest to express today in tandem with references to Chinese crafts. Li’s own inherent Goth tendencies also hovered in the background. Li said: “There are so many people like me in my generation. We can’t just be consumers. And we are more than a market.”Li adapted colorways from dynastic watercolor tradition—which also happened to be zingily fresh—and applied floral brooches (sometimes with accompanied “cute” pandas) after the style of what he said was a technique named róng huà. There were dresses tufted with recycled raffia and a closing dress hand-crafted in bamboo. Bonded jersey and leather were crafted into spare, modern shapes, many inspired by traditional workwear. A rabbit design was sunk seamlessly in leather intarsia on a vest and shirt to reflect the upcoming Chinese new year and Li’s own birth sign. The collection was carefully spare, lushly colored and highly effective. Shang Xia looks good.
29 September 2022
When Yang Li showed his launch collection for the Chinese luxury brand Shang Xia last October he did it on the Paris runway. This time around, he said he chose to use the informal pictures the design studio takes during the fitting process as a look book, the better to emphasize the clothes and accessories’ real-world applications. Season one, he set forth the brand’s tailoring foundations, which are strongly informed by ’90s minimalism. Without neglecting suiting and sharply cut coats, he made sportswear basics an essential focus of season two.“I really want to push simplicity and archetypes, such as the hoodie and the T-shirt, really hone them to perfection because I think that’s a very modern way of dress for everybody right now,” Li said. His Shang Xia sweatshirt is made from double-face boiled wool with a napa leather pocket—it’s not your standard issue Champion or Russell Athletic cotton. The double-face T-shirt’s singularity comes down to cut; it can be worn normally, the way T-shirts have been worn since T-shirts were invented, or with the sleeves tossed behind the shoulders like a mini cape.Cut is one of Li’s fixations, and squares, circles, and triangles are part of his Shang Xia vocabulary. A double-face white knit column dress was designed with a square-cut back; where it folds over at the shoulder, it creates a dramatic, almost sculptural line and provides a flash of high-contrast color. Color is another emphasis at Shang Xia; a similar dress combining Kelly green and that bright sky blue was worn over a pink second-skin bodysuit.Shang Xia, like Hermès which it was modeled in part after, is a maker of more than fashion. For fall, Li sharpened the connection between his part of the company and its lifestyle products. The teddy jacket that opens the look book, for example, is made from a bamboo silk tweed that echoes the bamboo marquetry of a tea set. Similarly, the graphic stripes intarsia’d down the spine of coats are lifted from Ming Dynasty chairs which tend to feature rectangular backbones. Those nods to brand and cultural heritage aside, the overall effect is one of forward-looking future-wear, thanks to the clean, minimal lines Li favors and the perfectionism with which he finishes his clothes both outside and in. Also contributing to that impression: the collection’s playful bubble-soled shoes.
4 April 2022
Today was Shang Xia’s Paris Fashion Week launch. Rare is the debut in which top models Mica Argañaraz and Kiki Willems walk the runway, but Shang Xia is not your average newcomer. The company emerged 10 years ago as a joint partnership between Hermès and the Chinese designer Qiong Er Jiang. Recently Italy’s Exor (the holding company behind this summer’s Ferrari ready-to-wear launch and, of course, Ferrari) came on as a majority shareholder. Hermès’s Pierre-Alexis Dumas and Exor’s John Elkann sat in the front row at the show in the round, a cheering circle for designer Yang Li. He’s no newcomer either. Born in Beijing and raised in Australia, Li founded his independent label 10 years ago. Those who watch the runways closely will be familiar with his grunge-goth sensibility.Backstory established, on to the clothes. This was neither grunge nor goth but rather clean and minimal, rooted in tailoring in vivid highlighter colors but softened with elegant black sheath dresses that suggested Li is equally comfortable with draping on the body. He spelled out his approach backstage. “My mission and the brand’s mission is to champion Chinese creativity,” he started, “and to say that China is not just a market. Chinese people can create fashion and luxury on a world stage at the top level. That’s a beautiful challenge. It’s been my dream since being in the fashion business.”The show began with an unlined white leather coat whose back was quilted like a puffer, worn with flat-front ’90s slim pants with a contrast-color waistband. The accessories were just this side of sci-fi: a white leather clutch in the shape of a right triangle painted to a car-finish gleam and house slippers encased in see-through plastic bubbles. “Very difficult to make,” Li said. The point, he explained, “is to take traditional pillars and really imagine a luxury brand from the future today. Taking the craft that Hermès is known for but doing it from 2050 today for a younger audience. Because I want to talk about Chinese style today and tomorrow.”One obvious example of the craftsmanship Li was touting was a double-breasted coat with openwork leather sleeves, in what looked like crochet or macramé. But more often than not, the clothes had a streamlined cool: the masc suits in ultra-brights, the crisp shirting, the second-skin knit layering pieces, the coats and dresses sliced at the shoulders so the wearer can go sleeve free. Li belongs to the school of Helmut Lang and Raf Simons.
In a season when serious but not boring tailoring has mostly gone by the wayside, Shang Xia and Li offer a promising alternative with a new kind of selling point. “It’s like imagining an empty chair at a round table of luxury fashion brands that should be for a Chinese representative. What a great mission to embark on,” Li said. “We’re going to give it our best go.”
4 October 2021