Exclusive Interview With APEC Summit Costume Designer

At the 2014 APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit held in Beijing, the "first ladies" of the participating countries made a collective appearance. They wore elegant and generous "new suits" and became a beautiful scenery.

As one of the core designers of the fashion design team of the APEC summit, Zhao Huizhou is highly concerned by the media. The beautiful woman who graduated from the fashion design department of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts is both the chief designer of EACHWAY brand and a daughter-in-law in Hubei. The day before yesterday, in Shenzhen, she devoted her time to the interview with the reporter. She chatted with reporters about the details of her costume design for the first lady, and the history of her becoming a fashion designer.

Designing clothes for the first lady group is a big project.

A successful design is sometimes a mere inspiration to designers, but it is not enough to design clothes for the first ladies' group of the APEC summit.

From the initial design to the production of finished garments, there are many problems to be considered and balanced throughout the whole process. Such a costume design is a big project. Designers need to grasp the details accurately and stick to the end.

Seeing the "first lady" figure by experience

Q: it was estimated that the design took almost 8000 hours from start to finish. What processes have you gone through in such a long time?

A: I received an invitation last December, and I participated in the competition with 400 other designers and teams. Since then, I have begun to submit the design draft, and then submit the sample clothing, and constantly adjust, modify and run in accordance with the specific requirements of the meeting, and finally select the core team.

Q: your design is simple, fashionable, and has Chinese charm. It's amazing. "First ladies" come from different countries. How can they dress their clothes in the "Chinese style"?

A: after many discussions, the final idea is "every beauty, beauty, beauty and communion". Each "first lady" is outstanding and has its own beauty. In the design, many details, such as embroidery, fastener design and production, all made some changes and adjustments according to the characteristics of each person.

The workload of this design is very large. For example, the problem of clothing fit is not easy to achieve, basically depends on visual (laughter). There is no ready-made information on the size and shape of the first lady, and can only be estimated by experience. At the same time, what are their personalities, hobbies and taboos? They must also find ways to collect information, and even capture and judge images from their previous activities.

Q: is there any risk in designing clothing for such a conference?

Answer: Yes. Although the implementation of the host's clothing culture is the tradition of the APEC summit, there has been a precedent that the costumes provided by the conference are not recognized, accepted or even not worn by other economies. After all, each country has different cultural traditions, different self perceptions, and different standards of identification. Therefore, in designing, we should fully respect the habits and feelings of different countries.

Q: in the end, the clothing you designed is very effective. Are the first ladies very satisfied?

A: actually, we have been very disturbed in our minds. Fortunately, they are very fond of feedback. For example, Chile's "first lady" also set up a set of special points, indicating that she really recognized this dress.

Even lighting and weather details should be considered.

Q: what is the most important thing to accomplish such a large amount of design?

A: I see it this way: this summit is an important publicity window and way to promote Chinese clothing culture to the world. To a certain extent, it represents our country's dress design level and image, so it is both an opportunity and a challenge. Therefore, it is one of the most energetic tasks for the whole team to consider every detail and make it perfect.

Q: apart from what we can think of, such as embroidery and color, what are the details?

A: for example, when the first lady group is unveiled, is it indoors or outdoors? Is it a dinner dress or a conference dress? What was the temperature at that time? Can different colors of clothing be coordinated under field conditions? All these should be fully considered. If any factor changes, the whole design should be adjusted accordingly.

In addition, this time we also specially developed wool and silk blended fabrics. In the selection of colors, they are mainly based on plain and elegant colors, such as traditional Tibetan blue, peony red, and shallow apricot. In the profile design, the most popular design of the minimalist and large profile is adopted, which is not only simple and atmospheric, but also has good tolerance to different shapes. In terms of elements, a large number of traditional crafts such as Suzhou embroidery are used to decorate the details.

Q: in addition to the "first ladies", the public's evaluation of the design is also very high. Is this in line with your expectations?

A: This design is different from the traditional "Chinese dress". We emphasize the modern expression of traditional culture, which not only interprets the charm of Oriental beauty, but also reflects the sense of the times and fashion. We are very pleased that we can get broad recognition from the public.

Q: do you have a sense of accomplishment now?

A: actually, the pressure is even greater. (laughter)

In her tiny body, there is a heart running forward.

The office area of Yi Hui fashion group, located in Shenzhen Free Trade Zone, has a simple and clear style: two beautifully ancient wooden boxes, with all kinds of copper door rings. Zhao Huizhou's office fully embodies her aura.

In Shenzhen's big wave fashion creative city, Yi Hui fashion group combines many functions such as costume design, production, performance, exhibition, museum and so on. It can be seen that in Zhao Huizhou's tiny body, a lofty heart is surging ahead.

I like to look forward and forget my business.

Q: when you graduated from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in 1996, you went to Shenzhen alone. It takes a lot of courage for a girl.

A: at that time, Shenzhen gave me the impression that there was opportunity and development, so I came and didn't think too much.

Q: How did you start your own business?

A: I purchase fabrics mainly in Shenzhen, then send them to Hunan's hometown to make plates and make samples, and then send them back to my store for sale. Sometimes, if I can't send it, I'll take it by myself and bring it back.

Q: your company's old staff say, you always dragged trailers around?

A: I usually don't recall anything (laughter). Maybe my personality is like this. I don't remember hardships. I seldom think about the past. I like to look forward.

Q: 17 years ago, when you founded your own company and had your own brand, there were not many people with brand awareness at that time. How did you make this decision?

A: I didn't even think about success at that time. I just thought that designers must have their own brands. Now, for different age groups and needs, I have three different brands.

Difficult to harvest teeth, naturally come.

Q: from your office, do you like collecting?

Answer: designer's design culture is very important. Collection is one of the ways. I personally like old furniture.

Q: your design is very international. Why do you love traditional things so much?

Answer: designers are most afraid of thinking blocking. They need new things to stimulate and broaden their horizons. For example, I work with 6 design teams, 3 of which are in Milan. I often go to Italy to attend fabric exhibition and fashion week, capturing fashion information, communicating with different teams, and making great achievements.

Q: did you design the "new suit" fire and would strike the iron while promoting the derivatives?

Answer: Yes. We will develop some derivatives, such as the Spring Festival will launch a new Chinese dress.

Q: what does the design experience of the APEC summit mean for you?

Answer: it is a kind of recognition, I think. Although the whole process is hard, it is also a self improvement and improvement. A lot of time is like this, a matter is hard again, you stick to your teeth and stick to it, the final harvest will often be much more than expected.