Xander Zhou Fall 2017 Menswear. The Beijing-based creative reconstructs youth subcultures within progressive tailoring.
Chinese menswear designer Xander Zhou is part of a new generation of Asian fashion talent. The Beijing-based creative was the first menswear fashion designer from China to be part of London Fashion Week Men’s, and he presented a 2017 fall/winter collection rife with progressive tailoring.
For fall, he reconstructs classical forms by providing them with new contexts, this time he looked first to the traditional tailoring worn by bankers — blazer, vest, shirt, tie and trousers — and reworked the Mao suit referencing ‘communist chic’ in a dark palette, yet modernizing the look with latex gloves. The stylist, Anna Pesonen layered the garments in a more dis-functional sense linking back to the idea of transforming mundane garments, into transcendent pieces of formal wear.
Xander Zhou’s collections, though ever evolving, have often been inspired by youth subcultures, combining simple elegance with streetwise attitude. His fall 2017 collection was a triumphant celebration of an often misunderstood youth culture. Dark, mysterious and brutal. “We are the new generasian” pronounced Zhou, which was an open-response to Asia’s significant role within Western culture; and the power and influence Asia has today within fashion.