Designer Spotlight: Qiu Hao

For the past few months I have been harping on and on about the works of Japanese designers, from Junya to Yohji, from Rei to Issey, but it is about time Chinese designers are getting a bit of credit in the global fashion spotlight. Honestly speaking, the current image that Chinese fashion is projecting is rather bleak. Known for the biggest source of counterfeiters and producer of cheap, low-quality goods, it’s not exactly the first place we think of when talking about high fashion. This article on WSJ highlights the current consumer behaviour in China, notably about paper bags from luxury stores. That’s how important luxury brands are as status symbols, which is not surprising since that was how Japan behaved when the country started getting richer. Apparently it’s called the 1980s syndrome, the period when materialism began its acceleration after leaving a decade of hippies and threats of nuclear war.

However, like any other society, the crassness is bound to make way for sophistication. Give it another couple of years the LV and Gucci monograms will be seen as outdated, like how they are perceived in most of the Western world now. Not only that, there is an increasing number of East Asian designers who are graduates of Central St. Martens, FIT and Parsons. Their names have been gaining international recognitions and you can even find some of their works stocked in European boutiques.

Some of you, my well-informed readers, would have come across Qiu Hao, whose works have been making their rounds across the blogsphere. Nevertheless I made a compilation of images I’ve found all over the Interwebs just so we can all appreciate some gorgeous photos.

Creating a tall and lean silhouette, Qiu Hao showed much restraint in his minimalist approach. One could only wish to be able to see in person what appears to be luxurious silk, wool and leather, let alone touch the garments. While Qiu Hao himself did not divulge his inspirations, I couldn’t help but notice that there are hints of Rick Owens and Haider Ackermann. For the moment Qiu Hao’s magnificent works are only available in his Shanghai store, so you know who to see if you should ever make your way over to Shanghai.

Trufax: He switched discipline from interior design to fashion design, completing his MA in the renowned Central St. Martens.