It's Official, Vogue Just Named This Surprising City the World's Next Fashion Capital
According to a recent article in Vogue, Xiamen, China has been named a new fashion capital for its collection of avant-garde designers who call the southeast urban island home. With a lush green landscape and seaside views, the tucked away island offers Chinese designers a peaceful alternative to the cosmopolitan (and congested) cities of Shanghai and Beijing. But who are the essential designers who put Xiamen on the fashion map?
Ms MIN
Min Liu of Ms MIN and an LVMH Prize finalist, calls the pace of life in Xiamen relaxing and conducive to focus. She tells Vogue, “It’s a very nice environment to work in, and the city somehow breathes creativity.”
晚安🌃 #amoy #xiamen
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Sankuanz
Shangguan Zhe of the menswear label Sankuanz, which is rising to Vetements-style cult status, is another LVMH Prize finalist who calls Xiamen home.
YIFANG WAN
After graduating from London’s Central Saint Martins, Wan Yifang, started her personal label YIFANG WAN, a minimalist, structurally clean, utilitarian line devoid of pretension. This emerging designer is a Xiamen native.
Deepmoss
Deepmoss’s Dido Liu, known for her “introverted couture,” graduated alongside Yifang from Central Saint Martins, and began showing Deepmoss at Shanghai Fashion week soon thereafter.
Along with her Xiamen compatriots, these designers have been dubbed Xiamen’s homegrown Antwerp Six. The title refers to the school of Belgian designers to emerge from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts between 1980–81. The Antwerp Six includes Ann Demeulemeester and Dries van Noten, and is famous for establishing Antwerp as a fashion locale with revolutionary design concepts.