Feng Chen Wang Goes Seasonless, Celebrates Community Spirit
LONDON — Feng Chen Wang this season has decided to not present her new collection following the traditional fashion calendar. Instead, the London- and Shanghai-based designer has gone seasonless and decided to spotlight the community that has been following her for almost five years.
Wang invited seven of her followers via social media and asked them to share intimate moments they have with their community, wearing new and archival pieces that best showcase their personal taste. They come from different backgrounds: writer, musician, youth group volunteer, tattoo artist, professional skateboarder and students at different stages in their lives.
The designer said she wants to explore the evolution of, and relationship between, individual and communal identity with this project. She looks at communities as “spaces where we can self-actualize. Where we don’t have to pretend or perform. Where we can be ourselves.”
“I want to showcase the cultural and emotional aspects of fashion, especially at a time when we all feel lost and disconnected,” Feng told WWD over the phone before boarding a plane back to Shanghai. Over the weekend, she launched a collaboration with Cabbeen, a popular Chinese men’s wear brand in Fuzhou, the provincial capital of her hometown Fujian.
“Fashion is more than looking cool and pretty. My clothes mean something more than that to my community. The brand was built on the foundation of human connection and the beauty of building bridges with other people. In this period of confinement and social upheavals, this concept feels more pertinent than ever,” she added.
Launch Gallery: Feng Chen Wang 'An Ode to Community'
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