Editor’s Pick: Andrea Jiapei Li Fall 2015. Andrea presented her autumn/winter 15 collections as part of VFiles’ show at Lincoln Center in February 2015. Beijing-born Andrea was one of the night’s shining standouts.
Approached by Dover Street Market to stock her graduation collection, Beijing-born designer Andrea Jiapei Li took her first leap towards establishing herself in high fashion. Following Parsons’ MFA graduate show during New York Fashion Week last September, Andrea Jiapei Li presented her autumn/winter 15 collections as part of VFiles’ show at Lincoln Center in February 2015. Beijing-born Andrea was one of the night’s shining standouts just as Katie Grand said.
But like many designers, Andrea recognized the challenge in transitioning from graduation to growing a business: “Aesthetically, there are a lot of similarities between my two collections, but for autumn/winter 15, we wanted to try to make things more wearable and slightly more commercial,” she said. For Li, those design elements include striking a balance between sporty, functional fabrics like space mesh and neoprene and refining an elegant, cooly feminine silhouette. There was definitely a sense of heritage in Jiapei Li’s collection. The Beijing born creative re-imagined traditional Chinese dresses in extreme proportions – blocks and panels of vinyl updated tunics and outsized outerwear, creating an extravagant and playful effect.
This is her first collection since she graduated, so the main idea here is to communicate her vision and design as a designer. She left her identity in the collection, and posed profound questions on who she may be, but to her as she explained, “self discovery is an ongoing process because we as individuals and designers are always evolving.” So we’re pretty sure besides her prodigious talent, she’s got all the elements in place matching to grow in the future. (Text Teuku Ajie)
Andre Jiapei Li’s Fall 2015 collection soon will be available on vfiles.com
CREDITS
Photography Ivan Bideac
Hair Seiji Uehara
Make-up Tatyana Harkoff
Model Zlata at Muse