Original Designer Liu Qingyang

In the past few years, the original designers who are most competitive in China are afraid of Liu Qing Yang. In the age of Vintage, how many stars bent over her independent brand Chictopia, Fan Bingbing, Joe Chen, Sun Li, Song Jia... Female stars wear fashionable clothes and cover their magazines in her designs, making their fashion more expensive. Liu Qingyang's name has also entered the mainstream vision with the increasing attention of the media. She was born in Beijing and grew up in Hongkong. She studied in England at the age of eighteen, and graduated from the College of fabric design of Saint Martin College of art and design. In this popular beauty designer, for a time, let everyone see the hope of China's original design field.

Located at 56 Nanluogu Lane in Dongcheng District, Beijing, the store is Liu Qingyang's Utopia: Chictopia brand store. The latest relocation studios in the busy CBD Jian Wai SOHO, the door is simple, the layout of the white system makes the whole space with a sense of freedom and fashion. The 2013 spring and summer series are unique and eye-catching. Liu Qingyang has worked hard for nearly four years.

　　 Idealism has come out of flower.

When she first returned home, Liu Qingyang did not make a big brand ambition. In her own words, she was a person who had no plans for long sex, and everything was done step by step. It is her greatest wish to run a small shop and sell all kinds of clothes she designed herself. In 2009, she registered her own brand with Chictopia: English Utopia, born out of Utopia, Chic represents a unique style. She said she was a very idealistic person, and Chictopia actually belonged to her country, her Utopia. When it comes to why it is not like other designers to name their brands in their own name, she says she does not want individuals to have too much influence on brands, and does not want to be a personalized brand.

It is difficult to make a brand, which is the most difficult mountain for all original designer who runs independent brand. At first, it was hard to have no sales channels, and Hong Huang was building a Chinese designer shop "BNC peppermint glutinous rice onion". Liu Qingyang called directly to help himself. The behavior of the girl in Beijing was indeed a door to success. Chictopia was slowly known and famous, and the power that Liu Qingyang borrowed made her walk a lot of wrong ways. Now she has opened her own brand store, and has opened up sales channels from the entity to the Internet. In those days, the dream of opening a small shop on the street has been overfulfilled. What worries her has become "domestic shopping malls are not like foreign countries, willing to help young original designers to open up stores, and gradually develop independent design brands in China."

{page_break}

　　 Imitation is popular but big deal.

Speaking of Chictopia, Liu Qingyang was most proud of printing and fabrics. Their single family also makes Chictopia different from many other similar design brands. Liu Qingyang, who graduated from the fabric profession, attached great importance to the fabric. She felt that the fabric was the outer skin of the garment, which would directly affect it. clothing The design. The appropriate fabric can properly reflect the overall shape and design, and the color and pattern of the fabric can better tell the story behind and express the designer's idea. Hand painted patterns, scanning, repairing and printing, Liu Qingyang's fabric printing is completed step by step. She did not run to the fabric market to find her favorite colors and prints. After several years, she also established good cooperation with professional fabric suppliers. With printing and fabric backing, she began to make subtractive designs in the version design, and finished the outline of the whole dress with simple and aesthetic tailoring. With distinctive features and eye-catching printing, Chictopia's strong sense of presence has not only made this brand fast in fashion circles, but also everywhere. Liu Qingyang reluctantly told reporters (micro-blog), Taobao found that the first seller to sell Chictopia's imitation clothing, she went to complain, the results really complain successfully. But with the increasing number of copies, complaints are not going to work. She doesn't have much energy to manage. However, in turn, do you think the popularity of imitation is not a big deal?

　　 Be your own retro Mousika and take the international route.

Chictopia is inspired by Vintage culture. Liu Qingyang skillfully used the retro elements in modern clothing, thus creating a classic but modern, practical but strong personality style. In recent years, Vintage wind has been very popular in China. Liu Qingyang said that in fact, this is the mainstream clothing culture in Britain. While studying in England, Liu Qingyang studied the fabric specialty, and also took many courses in clothing history. Britain's Vintage culture was very popular at that time, and second-hand shops and second-hand markets on the street were highly accessible. In her eyes, those historical costume techniques are charming and rare in style. Her cognition and obsession with Vintage was accumulated bit by bit at that time.

In the first few years of Chictopia, Liu Qingyang, a retro, became a home grown model with a strong brand of retro gene. It also became a major feature of Chictopia. It was speculated that she was for speculation, but she herself knew everything was to reduce operating costs. But it also has advantages, because as a designer, she knows her clothes best and needs to model and interpret how she feels. In addition to models, she also called herself an inspiration for Chictopia.

{page_break}

In recent years, the development of the domestic design industry has been developing rapidly, and people have been optimistic about the future ten or twenty years of the industry. Liu Qingyang is no exception. Although there has not yet been an internationally recognized fashion design brand, her phrase "China will produce an international brand" must have been remembered by many people. If the "design and market balance" is her demand for the future, then it will be a good idea to think about it. Chictopia The line is very consistent, which makes people expect more.

　　 People who are not serious do interesting designs.

Liu Qingyang's Retro elegance and elegance left the impression of the media. However, when we went to the proof, Liu Qingyang was once more astonishing. She said, "I am a serious person. When I push people together seriously, I want to destroy the jokes. Actually, I have many naughty factors in my bones. I even want to paint my whole body with flower tattoos." This is a fun and interesting Liu Qingyang, just like her design. At the end of the interview, it happened that Zhang Xiaoxi, a famous blogger illustrator, came to see Liu Qingyang, and his friend came to visit the book. It seemed that Liu Qingyang had a good relationship in fashion circles.

Reporter: look at your clothes, fairy tale design and European Impressionist stuff, and the outline of the dress is very European. Why do you, as a Chinese designer, become obsessed with these western things?

Liu Qingyang: first of all, I do not think it is necessary to distinguish between the state or the East and the west, because now everyone lives in a very tolerant society. I think designers are more self - interested. I am a special self. I only express my own ideas and preferences, and my growing environment has always been a combination of Chinese and Western cultures. I don't feel that I am a Chinese designer with a special Chinese symbol. I think it all comes out naturally.

Reporter: your brand Chictopia, it's strange why you don't use your own name like other independent designers.

Liu Qingyang: I don't particularly want to register with my own name, because I don't want individuals to have too much influence on brands, so I especially want to use a rather personal name. Then the name "Chic" and "Topia" are utopian and elegant. I think this name is more inclusive, not special, then registered and passed, and then it is him. As a designer, I don't want to feel like a model or a star. For example, the media exposure rate is very high. Like a star designer, I don't want to, and personal influence, for example, I may sometimes say something wrong on micro-blog, and then someone will leave a message saying that I will not buy your clothes again. There is really such a person, so I hope that personal behavior does not affect the brand.

{page_break}

Interviewer: what kind of clothes do you want people to wear in your designs or what kind of characteristics should they wear?

Liu Qingyang: what I think is the most important and most desirable thing is more positive, more interesting and humorous. Stars are like Fan Bingbing and Joan Chen.

Reporter: your work is particularly rich in imagination. For example, the circus series, how do you think of these "impossible animals" in the establishment of clothes?

Liu Qingyang: maybe because I am a fabric specialist, I can automatically form the concept of anything that can be printed. And there were no rules. I prefer to start with some details of life. Because I belong to that kind of person who does not like to elaborate particularly big concepts. I like things that are more daily and more direct.

Reporter: for the Chinese, they actually have a resistance to color or singular profile. How do you get your customers to accept it?

Liu Qingyang: I don't think it's so contrary to my imagination, but it is beyond my imagination and has a high degree of acceptance. As for how to let them accept, I will also think from a consumer's point of view when designing. I usually design clothes for myself to think for customers: will I wear this dress, what occasions will I wear and so on. And after I finish, I will guide you through my own demonstration.

Reporter: your design is very imitated now. What do you think of this problem? Do you think it is a disguised propaganda?

Liu Qingyang: No, I hate them very much. A lot of people advise me to say that if you sell well, many people will imitate you. You should be happy. Then someone says you think so, so many people buy your piracy now so that you can earn more money to buy your brand. Now I can only comfort myself like this, but I still feel that the impact on the brand is still very bad. I will try my best to protect my new series, and try not to expose the media before the first wave.

Reporter: when Gao Yang accepted our interview, he said that Chinese designers were a watershed for your generation. What do you think?

　　 Chictopia There was a wave of designers coming out before, but they were on the high road. Now the designers of this generation may come out to make more garments, more modern, practical and functional. The style is more internationalized and has no strong national elements.

Reporter: now there are many international brands entering the Chinese market, and many young designers are getting up. China's fashion industry looks very prosperous. What do you think?

Liu Qingyang: it should be said that it is a start. It can be said that there is no real original designer brand in China. I mean, there is no international recognition. So I think that in the next 10 or 20 years, China will probably have a big market balance with the design.