(Chinese Version)

Editor’s Note:

Zhang Xinyu wore a dress with a traditional Chinese motif at the Cannes Film Festival, and overnight the news of her outfit exploded. Countless spoofs of the dress appeared, and the images quickly went viral on social media. As a result, the designer of the dress, Hu Sheguang, emerged on the public stage. Some people criticize him for being nothing more than hype, while others praise him for remaining true to his unique vision. When TMTpost sat down with him for an interview, we discovered that he left China to study abroad at the age of 16 and that he returned three years ago to the world of Chinese fashion design. In many ways, his outlook and worldview are very different from most people's. But what kind of philosophical expression does Hu Sheguang seek in his creative process? And how can a designer remain true to himself?

Fashion needs to come back to life

A week ago, the Beijing Chinese Film Directing Arts Center was transformed into an enormous runway, and dozens of guests from the media and fashion world packed the auditorium. Everyone was there to answer one burning question: did the fashionista who put a Chinese floral folk jacket on Zhang Xinyu have something new to offer?

As the show opened, the ethereal quality of the lighting and music quieted the boisterous audience. Modern dance performer Guo Shang, wearing a white dress and stepping lightly, drew the audience into her story. Hu Bing appeared wearing an outfit from this season’s Touch Me line from Hu Sheguang. His demeanor and attitude completed the silent dialogue between the dancers.

After the dance ended, the dancers joined the audience to watch the rest of the show. Then, the models appeared on stage. They came onto the stage quietly, without any swagger. They wore designs from Hu Sheguang’s latest season, wearing a white box over their heads so that their faces were not visible. The show was done entirely in black and white tones, adding to the overall ambiance of mystery.

“I used a paintbrush to express myself when I was 16 years old, and fashion design is the language I use to communicate now.” When Hu Sheguang was interviewed by journalists, he first talked a bit about his plans for the newest season. “Tasimi”, originating with the English words “touch me”, comes from the idea that in a diverse society, people are constantly in search of their authentic selves. Hu Sheguang said that he was this way himself; he keeps running into walls but he just continues once again with his search. Hu said that this process also helped him to create a more complete and perfect version of himself: “The white box on the models’ heads signifies empty hearts.” Hu explained further that people today very seldom take time to get to know their inner lives or examine the perceptions of their heart and soul. They are often distracted by the outside world, and he hopes to be able to use the theme “touch me” to wake people up. Only through truly understanding the self will a person be able to live a full and enriching life.

Although no one is a stranger to the type of floor show presented in this dance, Hu Sheguang emphasized that this time he invited the dancers to do performance art. When the show was half over, the music stopped suddenly, and the models froze in place. The dancers sitting in the audience stood up again and mounted the stage to touch the frozen models. As soon as the dancers made contact, the models sprang into motion once again and went on with the show, as if through telepathy. Hu Sheguang said he hoped to create a mood that encouraged the audience to feel.

Upon closer analysis, the simple black and white clothes are linked to the needs of everyday life, and the comfortable cuts and fabric are suitable for everyday wear. “When it comes to the source of inspiration, one doesn’t want to look at the source itself but rather the works it inspires.” Characteristic of Hu Sheguang’s work is his ability to extract elements of everyday life and recreate and reconstruct them. After seeing the show, one reporter commented: “I feel like he is expressing that his fashion designs are not only about appearance—that which one sees—you also have to touch them and interact with them before you can really understand his intentions. After watching this show, I feel as though all the previous critiques about Hu Sheguang’s work seem rather reckless and ridiculous.”

A floral pattern jacket sparks media frenzy

Hu Sheguang has admitted that before going to Cannes, he tried to be prepared for every possible criticism, because he knew that what he intended to do was a bit “coloring outside the lines.”

On May 14, the 68th Cannes film festival kicked off. Zhang Xinyu appeared wearing a red and green dress in the traditional style of the Northeast region of China, custom-made for her by Hu Sheguang. For quite some time, the eyes of both the domestic and foreign press as well as the audience were fixed on her. “When Zhang Xinyu first found me, she wanted to collaborate on other styles of dress. But the European-style red carpet dress can be overwhelming, and why would a Chinese star not express her Chinese culture? So I just convinced Zhang Xinyu to wear the jacket with this season’s flower theme.” Before his departure, Hu Sheguang repeatedly reminded Zhang Xinyu that wearing this dress would elicit some negative feedback, since it would represent Chinese culture. Anyway, Zhang Xinyu agreed to wear it.

Sure enough, when Zhang Xinyu appeared onstage, some commentators within China excoriated her. Many people used words like “shocking”, “dregs of the earth” to describe Hu Sheguang’s design. “In fact, people have never understood my designs, and people thought that the dress was really ugly. I have already gotten use to these types of criticisms. The northeastern flowery cotton-padded jacket is my source of inspiration; I have felt close to it since I was a child. I don’t have the right to prevent any of these criticisms, but at the very least I have put the jacket out there again for people comment on once again. You can see a lot of famous people playing flower jacket PS on microblogs, and some electronic products also use the flower jacket design on their packaging. Even pair of Jimmy Choo shoes use flower jacket elements. I want to just convey the message that the purpose of this element has been achieved.

This March, a different kind of fashion show was staged in Beijing’s 798 Arts District, where the models stepped onto the runway wearing re-trimmed jackets. This time, the flower jacket element was merely decorative, but it conveys that Hu Sheguang is designing a language of a return to one’s roots as a way to explain his own definitions of fashion. The biggest surprise of the entire show came when 79-year-old Wang Deshun, who played Li Dahai in the film Return to Age 20, walked across the stage, boasting unmatched pectoral and abdominal muscles. Online users cried out, “Our old grandfather would put any younger man to shame!” In this way, Wang Deshun was Hu Sheguang’s secret weapon. Hu Sheguang got the idea to do this when he was chatting one day with one of his music producers, and learned that her father was a famous actor. After seeing this man’s photo, Hu Sheguang was shocked by the older man’s appearance.  “Having him get onstage was a little adventurous for me, but I was really excited about it. Our elderly people in China are not just sitting around quietly. His appearance is very representative of the current themes in my designs—vitality, health, and feeling.”

Born in the 1970s in Hohot, Inner Mongolia, Hu Sheguang grows increasingly nostalgic for the warm coal stove of his childhood and of his grandfather, who would with Hu in their cozy home on the heated bed (in Chinese, “kang”) and teach him to paint and draw. In this cold northeastern climate, everyone wore a large traditional jacket and stayed close to each other, creating an atmosphere of affection, love, friendship, and “closeness”.  The colors and patterns in these northeastern Chinese-style jackets complete Hu Sheguang’s series of fashion creations. They also represent Hu Shehuang’s hopes that people will begin to care more about feelings in their relationships with others, rather than allowing themselves to be alienated and distracted by the material world. Hu Sheguang says that the cost of this outfit is only several hundred yuan, but the outfit’s aesthetics are superior to anything similar that one might purchase abroad for a much higher price, perhaps several hundred thousand yuan. The difference in pricing reflects Hu Sheguang’s much more relaxed attitude toward his designs.

To truly live, dare to be different rather than following the crowd

When Hu Sheguang returned from abroad, he didn’t understand why Chinese people always feel that their items reflecting their own cultural heritage are considered ugly and gauche. When he was in Europe, what he desired the most was to use elements of his own country’s culture in his designs. But today when he completes these types of designs, Chinese people’s attitudes are very different from what he expected. They say things like, “Look, foreigners are so good at using elements from traditional Chinese culture! The northeastern flower pattern is on the international stage!” But when it is a Chinese designer doing those types of designs, nobody approves. It’s the attitude of a people who don’t have faith in their own cultural heritage.

After Cannes was over, the foreign media were almost universal in their praise of Zhang Xinyu’s outfit, especially one French magazine which expressed surprise that “Red and green could go together so perfectly, with the very beautiful floral pattern.”

Hu Sheguang expressed sadness about this Chinese mentality, saying: “I actually think we all need to reflect somewhat about this problem.” At 16 years of age, Hu ventured alone to Europe, where he washed dishes as a side job and worked hard to learn Dutch while pursuing his education in fashion design. His hardworking attitude attracted admiration from those around him. He once produced 45 fashion shows within a year, and he once designed four wedding gowns in one week. He only takes 10 minutes to draw up his designs, and within 30 minutes, he had made his audience very excited about fashion.

In the past 25 years, Hu Sheguang has grown from that little boy learning to paint and draw in his grandfather’s cabin to being one of the top students at the Art Institute in Amsterdam. From this ordinary background, he has become a fashion designer whose designs are favored by the Queen of the Netherlands. A great deal of effort has gone into this growth trajectory, which Hu himself hinted at when he said: “The truth is that everyone grows from experience. It may be that I am just very good at dealing with hardship.”

Hu Sheguang has lived abroad for 25 years, and he has designed clothes for the Queen of the Netherlands. Throughout his years abroad, he designed many dresses for stars attending Cannes, and those designs were all western in style, very beautiful and romantic. Among his previous designs there was a dark series and a punk rock series, but all of these were done in styles that followed European fashion trends. When he returned to China three years ago, Hu Shehuang began to think more about how to incorporate Chinese elements into his designs. He wanted to use Chinese elements to represent Chinese fashion and also to make a bold statement.

Hu Sheguang said that his muse is Siqingowa, not both hail from Inner Mongolia, but rather because Siqingaowa is always energetic and full of vitality. She encourages Hu Sheguang to persevere and stay true to himself and his vision. Most fashion designers stick to safe designs—trying to evoke beauty and romance. These types of designs are very easy and end up rather mediocre. Originality is what is most interesting, and they can even change people’s ideas about fashion design. Original designs have more energy and they remain true to the designer’s own values. However, Hu Sheguang just shrugged when asked about his decision to walk this more difficult road, saying: “Don’t you think it makes one more alive to be interesting, rather than being content to be merely one of the crowd?”

[The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @Dong Meiqi, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.]

Translated by Jennifer Smith (Senior Translator at ECHO), working for TMTpost.