Though Feng Chen Wang is still a relatively new name in fashion, the London-based, Chinese-born designer has made an early impression on the scene. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, she was nominated for the LVMH Prize in 2016 a couple of years after setting up shop. Her twisted puffer coats in poppy colors will be recognizable to avid watchers of men’s street style, spotted on the backs of discerning menswear connoisseurs.
In the past couple of seasons, Wang has been mining her Chinese heritage for inspiration. Her research led her to the Fujian Province where she was born, to the centuries-old crafts the region is known for. She drew on traditional basket weaving techniques to bring sculptural dimensions to sweatshirts and denim jackets. Taken to its ultimate conclusion though, with bamboo structures that were layered over the body, and the idea proved overly conceptual in execution.
Wang’s experiments with ancient textiles practices, on the other hand, were more compelling. The designer employed what is known as lanyinhuabu dyeing, a method she came across at the annual Qingming Festival in her hometown. Made using a combination of soybeans, limestone chalk, and locally formulated indigo dye, the white and indigo fabrics are worn by people during celebrations as a way of paying homage to their ancestors. The streaky, one-of-a-kind textiles worked particularly well on a workwear-style jacket and offered a minimalist answer to fashion’s ongoing obsession with tie-dye. Where the Made in China tag has been frowned upon in the past, Wang is bringing the country’s lesser known artisanal textile legacy to the fore.
