THE OVERLOOKED EVERY DAY

Zexian Liu's playful, vibrant and mix-and-match outfits and shoewear rife with prints, patterns and textures invite both the wearer and the viewer to enter her world of contrasts, randomness and celebration of the simple beauty of just looking around us every day. We are delighted to bring you an interview with the fashion designer below.

What are the responsibilities of being a fashion designer these days?

 

As a fashion designer, I challenge our daily dressing concept and add more possibilities to the idea of dressing, to make it more like an experience, a  ceremony of every day. By giving more emotional meaning to garments, create fashion with vitality, to bring us and garments together closely.  

Your design is dramatic and colourful. You opulently mix prints and decorative fragments. Where does your fascination with fabrics and volumes stem from? 

My aesthetic preference comes from the perception of my personal ideal world.  The paradoxical relationship between things is what attracts me, where strong contrasts and contradictions abound, and where elements from different worlds are perfectly compiled in the same image. 

Do you ever struggle to balance artistic value and wearability?

I think this is necessary. The combination of design and business is a mandatory prerequisite for fashion design, what is different is the rhythm and intensity of each designer’s coordination with business. I am grateful that I was able to study in Antwerp and attain a master’s diploma, this experience reshaped my perception of fashion design and further contributed to my current design approach and aesthetic system. 

Who do you design collections for? Do you have a muse in mind while creating your pieces?

I am inspired by the randomness and imperfection of things we see everywhere in our lives, the overlooked every day. They are moments of living that are full of emotions, and I want to celebrate the beauty of it all.

Are you preparing a new collection or projects we can look forward to this year?

Of course, continuous creation is what drives my life. I am currently working on preparing women’s pre-collection of SS24. It will be a continuation of the spirit of my MA graduation collection, as well as the first ready-to-wear collection of my label.

Last question: what would a utopian society look like for you if you had the power to create it? 

For me, design is a means to present my ideal world and a way to explore the meaning of the existence of things. My utopia is a time when everything disappears and we can create new things in the true sense.

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Bio

Zexian Liu graduated with a Masters’s degree from the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium. As a fashion designer, she communicates with the world by creating. Her works convey her philosophy of living and her view of matters. 

https://www.instagram.com/liu.zexian/

Credits

OUT OF SENSES – collection 

Team

Design Zexian Liu @liu.zexian 

Photo Marvis Chan @marvismmm   

Graphic Xiaomei Liu @2388________ 

Make up Iverny Cosyns  

Hairstylist Juila Lion Hair  

Starring Branko Roegiest and Estere B. Gravere

TURN BACK – collection, the transformation of the state 

Team

Design Zexian Liu @liu.zexian  

Print Xiaomei Liu @2388________

Graphic @its_noame

Photo Marvis Chan @marvismm

Makeup @emmacatry  

Hairstylist @vandeveldejannes  

Model @sterrevangeyseghem 

Maria from Jill models

Photo studio @lafabrique22a 

— 

Interview / Kateřina Hynková

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