Bridge Builders: Haizhen Wang
The fashion designer encompassing British and Chinese culture
'Maybe that's the country, that's the culture, and that's the place that I can learn'
It is both blessing and curse that humans can look to the horizons and contemplate better worlds beyond. The curse comes when the wanderlust leads to dissatisfaction with our current situation; the blessing is that it can give us the impetus to leave, to achieve – and to push ourselves, creatively and productively, to do things we may not have managed by staying at home. For fashion designer Haizhen Wang – born in Dalian, a port city on the Yellow Sea which separates China from the Korean peninsula – the siren calling over the ocean was London.
"Most of the designer brands that I love, the actual designers studied in London," Wang says. "John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, they were so hot at the time. And they really showed the drama and the passion of understanding what real fashion is.
"I felt 'Maybe that's the country, that's the culture, and that's the place that I can learn.' So I decided to go to the UK."
Haizhen Wang wins the Fashion Fringe Award, London 2012. /Haizhen
Haizhen Wang wins the Fashion Fringe Award, London 2012. /Haizhen
London calling
'Studying is not all about yourself'
Having set his sights on learning in London, Wang headed to the creative crucible that is Central Saint Martins. Undoubtedly the UK's most famous arts school, it has roots going back to 1854 but became particularly famous in the second half of the 20th century, as the premium destination for the country's most talented young creatives.
Among the alumni to have passed through its doors are musicians Jarvis Cocker, PJ Harvey, Paloma Faith and MIA, along with artists Gilbert & George and the Turner Prize-winning Laure Provost. But it is as a learning center for a string of fashion designers – not just Galliano and McQueen but Sarah Burton, Katharine Hamnett, Stella McCartney, Zac Posen and Riccardo Tisci – that it lured Wang across the planet to study a highly-coveted MA (master's) degree in Womenswear Fashion… or so he thought.
"At an early stage I thought I could go into a master's degree at the beginning, when I moved to London to study," he recalls – but he quickly reassessed and retargeted a foundational bachelor's degree first.
"When I met the professors of the school and I realized I wasn't as good as I thought, I felt I should go back to the BA stage, to study what angles these students think and how they create."
The MA followed on afterwards, once he felt he had a thorough grounding.
Structure and communication
Wang clearly thinks structurally, and in layers; asked to introduce himself for the camera, he says "This is Haizhen Wang, the person behind a brand called Haizhen Wang." So it's no surprise that he should think structurally about his education: not just what to learn, but how to learn.
"Studying is not all about yourself – it's about yourself and what's surrounding you, including the cities, the libraries, the people and your life as well," he says, reflecting on how he decided "to study the way the students around me think."
Such a meta-analysis would be beyond many; imagine carrying it out in your second language. Wang took his time to acclimatize, deliberately setting out to experience London.
"It's all about communication, especially as English was not my first language," he recalls. "I needed to settle myself into the place, and then move on to communicating. So at the very beginning, I was just trying to feel the city, to experience different places, to meet new people and to talk about how they think about design."
Nevertheless, there were certain logistical problems to overcome. Wang had things to learn, and not even the most lax lecturer will allow a student to simply think beautiful thoughts.
"The first year was so difficult because I couldn't catch what the tutors said," he admits. "After the classes, I always had to ask my friends to try to get an understanding of what the whole course was all about."
Clearly it worked – you wouldn't be reading about him otherwise – and Wang pays tribute to the education system that hosted him, for allowing him the time to grow.
"In UK education, or fashion studies, it's not all about the result," he says. "It's about the development and the research, and that changes the result."
The results would prove to be spectacularly successful – but first he had to get in on the ground floor.
Design and architecture
Without a set vision of what type of career he should have, Wang was an open book, and looked for places to learn – not just academically, but in the workplace.
"I thought 'Maybe I can start from an internship, to go into a studio to study.' Because at the beginning, I didn't really know what angle I could go into first. I felt maybe I can just find an opportunity, do whatever I can in the industry."
He was successful in landing internships – plural; remember, this is not a man who does the least possible to get by – and combined them with studying hard to catch up on decades of Western culture in which others around him had been seeped since birth.
"I'd go back to school and stay in the library day by day to learn," he says, recalling a litany of questions. "What is 1920s? 1930s? 50s, 60s? 80s, 90s, street culture? What happened at that time in London and other cities in Europe? What is American pop art? Music?"
Similarly, with the internships Wang sought a wide grounding before zeroing in.
"I did two internships in two different styles of designer brands," he says. "Then afterwards I decided to focus on one. The reason I chose that one is because he's not really a fashion designer. He's an architect rather than designer – he used his knowledge of architecture to work on clothing.
"When we talk about design and how you think of clothing, he said to me that making clothes is all about building up a space. As simple as that."
'Fashion is architecture: It's a question of proportions'
The crossover between architecture and fashion design is more commonplace than it might first seem. Coco Chanel once said "Fashion is architecture: It's a question of proportions," and several of her fellow designers were originally focused on buildings rather than bodywear.
Pierre Balmain, who studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux Arts before left-turning via Haute Couture into founding the Parisian fashion house that bears his surname, said "Dressmaking is the architecture of movement." Tom Ford, former Gucci creative director who also founded an eponymous fashion label, studied interior design, while Gianni Versace studied architecture for three years.
But while Wang has retained a lifelong interest in, and appreciation of, the esthetics of the built environment, he was destined to make waves in fashion rather than construction.
Haizhen Wang Winter Collection 2012
Haizhen Wang Winter Collection 2012
Into the workplace
After graduation in 2005, Wang was shortlisted for an Italian design competition, International Talent Support. "I didn't win," he says ruefully, but a greater opportunity presented itself.
Among the jurors were Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby, founders of the UK fashion label Boudicca; they recognized Wang's talent – indeed, they later told him they wanted him to win, but were outvoted – and in return he liked what they had to offer.
Working with Boudicca would give him a wide grounding in industry experience: "From zero to nine. You can design, you can make patterns, you can make, you can sew – everything by one person. That was my first job offer."
It wouldn't be his last. Besides Boudicca, he would work for huge industry names like Max Mara, All Saints and Handwritten by Tanya Sarne (a fashion legend who had co-founded the hugely successful Ghost brand with Central Saint Martins graduate Katharine Hamnett).
He learned on the job for half a decade before striking out alone. "After five years, I thought maybe it's time to experience it myself, see how it goes." It was, he acknowledges, what he had always been working towards: "When I started to learn fashion, obviously, you like to think one day you could be the one on the stage."
In 2010 he launched his eponymous clothing label, and in 2012 he won the Fashion Fringe Award, created by noted British writer Colin McDowell. "I was the only Chinese designer to win the Fashion Fringe Award," he says.
"This was the best award in Europe. The opportunities they are providing you is for the young designer to start building up their career, helping them grow into an established brand. After winning the award in September 2012, I was automatically enrolled into London Fashion Week."
Wang was moving on up – but after a few years, he was also moving on back… to China.
Back to China
Fashion designers are no strangers to an airport. Theirs is a life of movement: from catwalk to catwalk, event to event, city to city.
With the fashion world embracing China, Wang more often found himself back in his home country professionally as well as for personal visits – and he noted it was becoming increasingly international, increasingly open to exchanges, and therefore increasingly sensible as a base for a fashion designer.
In particular, Wang felt Shanghai was starting to remind him of his adopted hometown.
"Each season when I came back, I could feel the British culture getting involved in local culture," he says. "And the people surrounding me, they all talked about English and British fashion. It gives us a view of how the two countries have been exchanging with each other in culture and education."
'Chinese fashion sense is more and more international'
Wang relocated the business in 2016. "I decided to move my studio to Shanghai, because my design inspiration has always come from more than architecture. In some ways, Shanghai is similar to London – they are both an inspirational metropolis and the diverse lifestyle, culture and atmosphere gave me a lot of creative inspiration."
Obviously, he is far from the only businessman to have turned to face China. But he is typically thoughtful about why his home nation has become more international in flavor.
"In part because of China's global ascendancy as an economically powerful nation – but more importantly, because of exchanges of extended information due to globalization and the integration of digital and social media in daily life – Chinese people's fashion sense is becoming more and more international, and people want to pursue a higher quality of life, which is also driving the rapid growth of China's fashion industry.
"In addition, there are also increasingly perfect domestic supply chains, and the showroom system is now getting more international attention, as well as the encouragement and support of the Chinese government for the creative industry."
But that's not to say he has turned his back on London forever.
Haizhen Wang with Chinese Celebrities in Shanghai. / Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang with Chinese Celebrities in Shanghai. / Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang with Chinese Celebrities in Shanghai
Haizhen Wang with Chinese Celebrities in Shanghai
British inspiration, Chinese style
Haizhen Wang 22AW Collection. / Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang 22AW Collection. / Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang 22AW Collection. / Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang 22AW Collection. / Haizhen Wang Studio
'Chinese ways of thinking and creating are in my blood'
Even world-famous designers need inspiration. Ever aware, Wang drank deeply from the particular – some might say peculiar – culture that is Britishness. And some of his recent work has been shaped in part by a very British pursuit.
"A lot of my design inspiration comes from British culture," he says. "Equestrian sports is one of them. And the design of the Haizhen Wang Autumn/Winter 2022 collection is inspired by dressage, the highest impression of equestrian sport.
"I love finding inspiration in traditional British clothing and culture. Those classic elements are not only particularly authentic and ornamental, but increasingly rare in contemporary design, so such an attempt is very necessary."
It's one of the ways he still carries a torch for the nation where he learnt his trade.
"What I miss about London is the creativity, the freedom," he says. "When you see the artists and designers surrounding you, then you can see the creative thinking that makes things exciting. During the 1990s, British fashion was the most attractive in Europe."
There's an interesting caveat to that last thought. Times move on – especially in fashion – and Wang is now re-embedded in a rising power.
"With the development of China's economic level and policy changes, more and more Chinese designers have the opportunities to shine on the world stage – whether it is completing the latest concept in their fashion designs or integrating the excellent tradition culture of different countries into clothing design. Both are a fashionable way of communicating with the times.
"At the same time, batches of young Chinese designers have returned from their studies abroad to create their own brand. And in this process, we can not ignore the key role of culture exchange."
Perspectives on China
That is of course a path Wang has trodden, and returning to China has given him a fresh perspective on his homeland and its deep history.
"My interest about Chinese culture is the different costume development of each dynasty – the beauty of itself, the craftsmanship, the technique, the material uses, the color uses," he says.
He's also wary of what might be called cultural appropriation. "In my heart, Chinese elements are not totems or symbols, but should be a profound oriental philosophy," he insists. "Despite my Western education, Chinese ways of thinking and creating are in my blood. This is my Chinese element."
Again and again in his conversation, Wang displays a three-dimensional appreciation of his topic. Where some might just be talking about designs as printed on a fabric, he's contemplating what the designs represent, what might be their inspirations – and what might be learnt from our experiences in a world pivoting away from the paradigm of the last few hundred years.
"In my opinion, for our generation, clothing design can neither be limited by the country's traditions nor completely imitate the Western style of clothing design. Therefore, when we design clothing, we must draw inspiration from daily life on the one hand, and we must increase cultural confidence, continue to learn Chinese traditional culture on the other.
"We need to learn the excellent fashion design technology and knowledge of the West and properly use the traditional culture symbols of other countries, to integrate innovatively the two cultures and find a new creative path. I have always believed that only by fully analyzing Chinese and Western traditional culture, and dismantling traditional clothing design language from the perspective of balancing with the time, can we understand the deeper connotation of clothes and culture and create unique works."
Haizhen Wang 2018AW Collection. /Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang 2018AW Collection. /Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang 2018AW Collection
Haizhen Wang 2018AW Collection
Back to London?
'One day I will move back...'
We live in an increasingly globalized world, and those who run businesses – particularly creative ones – can choose their geographical location more freely than at any other time in history. Given this, and how clearly Wang appreciates places and the way they can inspire us, it's not a huge surprise to hear him consider the possibility of returning to London – not just to visit, but to stay.
"I've been always thinking about going back one day," he admits. "That means go back living there one day, go back to where I started, to experience myself again – that this is Haizhen Wang after 10 years, or many many years, who I am again.
"Always in my heart – even the day that I decided to move to Shanghai – I always think one day I will move back, bring the brand to Europe again."
While nations do not always get along as well as they might, and business rivalries can be fierce, creativity can be shared across continents. Wang is hopeful that fashion, like humanity, can continue to evolve in a multipolar fashion that encircles the globe – with two particular favorites in mind.
"I hope the Chinese fashion community and British fashion community can more frequently communicate with each other," he says, "creating more opportunities for new British and Chinese designers.
"Both China and Britain are countries with splendid culture and unique esthetics. I believe a fusion of Chinese and British fashion can not only enrich people's lives, but also deepen cultural understanding between the two countries."
Haizhen Wang with Christopher Bailey. / Haizhen Wang Studio
Haizhen Wang with Christopher Bailey. / Haizhen Wang Studio
Credits
Chief Editor Guo Chun
Editor Luo Chen
Writer Gary Parkinson
Producers Luo Chen, Elizabeth Mearns
Animation James Sandifer
Video Sam Cordell
