Refuse Club AW20
Represented by Black PR.
Refuse Club are a New York Based RTW brand launched in 2019 by two friends, Yuner Shao and Stef Puzhen Zhou both graduates from Parsons. Taking it’s name from the historic Salon Des Refuses, Refuse Club is a place to share uncompromising aesthetics and diverse cultural / political conversations. Zhou and Shao launched the brand as a commentary on social issues related to their identity as female and as Chinese, which have been recently mentioned on Vogue.com highlighting the fact that in their home country of China, the government is still silencing the #MeToo movement.
The AW20 collection is inspired by an ongoing absence of coming-of-age stories from a female perspective, where classic literature featuring a female protagonist has never been a story full of livelihood or bravery. The collection will take you on an intimate and sacred tour, a revisit to the closet of a teenage girl throughout the 90’s grunge and riot movement, with nods to Winona Ryder and the whimsical, feisty essence she perceives. The inspiration can be seen through Peter Pan collars, raglan sleeves, puff sleeves, quilted blazers with embroidery, grungy oversized coats, trousers and tartan plaids.
Refuse Club
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Many looks incorporate Chinese silk brocade and Western suit textiles, such as wool and satin, which are produced in Zhou and Shao’s native Chongqing. Once famous for its prominent ramie linen and embroidery exportation, Chongqing’s textile industry is now dying out. The collection references other Eastern narratives with pieces like the qipao, a traditional loose-fitting dress designed to conceal underlying eroticism.
In addition to Refuse Club there will be an additional collection showcasing which is a collaboration between two designers Qiongxin Kou and Yiyao Nie who will be showcasing their AW20 Collection this LFW. Their collection aims to embrace and explore new art forms that combine sophisticated tailoring and couture techniques with advanced modern art technology.
Qiongxin Kou, a Chinese fashion/textile designer based in New York City. Her background consists of three different countries and three different fashion colleges: France’s Esmod (Beijing branch), United Kingdom’s Central Saint Martins, and the United States’ Parsons. Each environment has helped broadened Kou’s understanding of design and stretched her imagination. There is a unique, dreamlike quality and sensibility that she brings to her work and life as a whole. Nature always sparks her creative impulse, from inside out. By following the natural guide, she finds inspiration in the seemingly minuscule technical details of design. Her work in essence seeks to reawaken an awareness of the self. It encourages you to slow down, breathe in, feel. The countless hours spent on knitting a garment into the night have not only instilled perseverance in her, but also helped Kou realize the psychological, emotional, and spiritual effect clothing can have on humanity. Kou, fashion and textile designer on this seasons collection will be responsible for doing the fabric creation and development of all the different looks.
The second designer is, Yiyao Nie, a multidisciplinary new media artist, interaction designer, and creative technologist. For Nie it is fusing arts and technology together to create a distinctive metric which fall into her meaning, innovative and story -telling art works using the experience she has gained. Nie has got lots of her inspiration from Chinese culture and philosophy through the integration of modern interaction media and technologies, including videos, games, web, installations, performances, and acoustics. Wanting to create unique aesthetic values and immersive experience, stimulating people’s meditations on nature and society, her artwork to speak to the world, to leave something to the world, and to have bigger impact on the world. Nie is responsible for developing the 3d printing pieces, to style with each different look which make up the AW20 collection.
For the AW20 show make up will be done by Sadie Hughes and Solent Pro team using Ilamasqua and hair will be done by Sophie Springett and the TONI&GUY Session Team using label.m Professional Haircare. The Refuse Club & Qiongxin Kou/Yiyao Nie Catwalk Show will be held during London Fashion Week with Fashion Scout Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, Holborn, WC1B 4DA on Saturday 15th February at 3pm.
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With love,
FWO
