After a knockout debut show last season in Shanghai, Yayi Chen Zhou returned to a by-appointment format for fall. The intimate presentation style suits her and her collection. Chen Zhou is the kind of designer whose best fit model is herself—on the rack her clothes look all the more appealing and convincing as she offers a walkthrough wearing her own samples. Her pieces have an old-soul, lived-in patina to them, but the designer, who is early in her 20s, makes a good pitch for her collection’s all-around time- and agelessness.
It’s been a somewhat quiet season in Shanghai due to the economic situation in China. To risk oversimplifying the scenario, people are spending less money across the board, which has affected most of all the budding labels like Ya Yi. While Fashion Week organizers have made up for a slimmer show schedule with an abundance of one-off presentations and exhibitions, the city’s designers are faced with working out how to move forward in real time. As it pertains to Chen Zhou, this meant a tighter, more focused collection as she looks forward to next season, and whether she’ll continue at Shanghai Fashion Week or try her luck in Paris.
Chen Zhou showed a lineup that she described as a further examination of the Spanish side of her own identity. It was the northern region of Navarre that became a particular curiosity of her, she said, specifically the way women in the area have adapted their wardrobes to their lives in the valley—to its rain and humidity in particular.
She is expansive in the way she interprets a theme. The most literal interpretations here were the broken lines of sequins she had embroidered onto the surfaces of a few pieces; they were charming and pretty and created a terrific pinstripe-like effect on a suit. She also used logwood dye techniques to treat silk to appear as if water was seeping through it, and tie-dyed velvet to create color variations that gave generously cut pieces more depth.
There is an austerity to Chen Zhou’s silhouettes; they envelop and swaddle the body in a way that feels both on-trend and as if extracted from a period film. Her clothes could feel reserved were it not for the alluring opulence of their detailing: cascades of ruffles on cocooning column gowns, shimmering fringe hems on dresses and skirts, silk ribbon ties on knits. An avid student of fashion, Chen Zhou also referenced Mariano Fortuny’s famous pleating technique on a knit that combined both steel and wool yarns—they cascaded down the body like a waterfall.
