Independent Fashion Designer: Zhou Xiangyu, Men'S Clothes Are Crazy.

Designer profile: Zhou Xiangyu

Graduated from Holland Den Haag Clothing Institute, she was appointed to Jeroen van Tuyl company, and founded menswear brand Xander Zhou in Beijing in 2007.

The social worker in the fashion designer, who designs a man's clothing, has a strong youth temperament, emphasizing the fuzzy gender dress concept and highlighting the diversity of design.

Concerned about the international market, many times in London Fashion Week, once for the Cannes International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival and other entertainers and directors customized red carpet dress.

When Zhou Xiangyu appeared in Chinese fashion circles, he was a student who had just returned from his graduation. He was seen as a special event.

In 2007, Zhou Xiangyu, 25, returned home from Den Haag clothing college in Holland. After returning home for three or four months, he made his first fashion show on a tennis court in Beijing. The backstage of the show was a fashion editor of China's first fashion magazine.

In 2007, it was not easy for a designer to make a show, at least hundreds of thousands of expenses, but for Zhou Xiangyu, the most beneficial move to do something was "fun". He took the first thing he wanted to do as soon as possible.

When I first returned home, Zhou Xiangyu met Liu Jiani, the creative director of the advertising company. He told Liu Jiani, "sister, I want to make a fashion show for myself." Liu Jiani was stunned. "Few designers dare to say this sentence when they were young."

But after seeing his work, Liu Jiani was completely impressed by him.

Zhou Xiangyu's first show venue and drinks were sponsored by artists and friends. Zhang Liang, Fu Zhenggang, Zhao Lei and other first-line models were free to show up, which was very much like a family.

Zhou Xiangyu chose men's clothing besides the complicated women's wear designer and brand.

He believes that women's loyalty to brands is very weak, but men's clothing is different.

Zhou Xiangyu's brand image is very clear, mostly the temperament of boys and juveniles, and some innocence. He emphasizes the concept of fuzzy gender dress, but it is not deliberately sexy, all with a perfect visual effect.

Zhou Xiangyu said,

"Every season creates an image in his mind, with the latest way of matching, the latest trend to provide reference for everyone, but it should not fetter others."

For a long time, Zhou Xiangyu's brand had a unique temperament.

Start with independence.

Zhou Xiangyu studied Chinese painting when he was little, but he didn't want to be a painter or artist later. He was only interested in clothes.

Fifteen when Zhou Xiangyu was six years old, he liked to change his clothes. Because he did not like the brand logo on clothes, he often pulled down many clothes and changed jeans.

On one birthday, a friend sent Zhou Xiangyu a second-hand sewing machine. He bought some clothes on his own cloth, and later signed the school with these works.

There are no Tantras and shortcuts to design, but in the past few years in Holland, the collision of different cultures has opened up Zhou Xiangyu's vision.

He studies famous designer costumes every year, and then finds his design style from every designer's style.

There are always some people who are good at social interaction and will become the help in their careers. Zhou Xiangyu is like this. Before he returned to Beijing in 2006, he just returned to Beijing for a few months, and in those months, he knew many friends.

In the eyes of friends, Zhou Xiangyu is a social master, but Zhou Xiangyu thinks he is very difficult to understand with strangers. But he likes Party, likes drinking, half of his friends know in bars.

At that time, he frequented bars in Sanlitun and Gulou area, KAI CLUB and Mao were all places he used to visit.

"In those years, those bars gathered some of the most avant-garde young people in Beijing, including models, make-up artists, fashion editors and public relations. It is easy to get familiar with people and people in that environment."

After a short internship in Jeroen van Tuyl, Holland, in 2007, Zhou Xiangyu returned to Beijing to register her own brand Xander Zhou, which was an important factor for him to return to Beijing to establish a brand, and later became a person who could help him.

But men's and women's demands are different. Unlike women's clothing, they can rely on the high-end dress of the evening dress to survive.

Independent designers have only two ways to make men's wear, or the leading and most unique group in the fashion circle. They become strong style designers or they can only be a commercial brand.

But in 2007 or so, there was no viable commercial channel for men's designer brand, and no designer's predecessors and models were available for reference. So Zhou Xiangyu chose the road of maverick.

Before 2010, Zhou Xiangyu was doing his own series every season. His design freedom focused on contour, material and young realism.

"For young designers of men's clothing, they need to make clear and memorable labels for themselves to stand out from many designers, otherwise the masses will have so many brands and why people should choose you."

In fact, Zhou Xiangyu inherited many business knowledge from his parents. He often knew how to make a commercial brand, but he just didn't want to do it. He always thought that the timing was wrong, and his talent was far greater than that of business.

Zhou Xiangyu's design is not for the sake of the difference, his design 90% above all has the very strong reality to pass through.

Therefore, in the first year of brand creation, although there is no profit, it has gained popularity in the circle. Guests also rely on word of mouth, through fashion editor, model, and stars to introduce each other, and even young people who work in banks, because they like his design, and just ask him to make a suit.

Many people questioned Zhou Xiangyu's approach, but when he later found that his persistence was finally established, he did not care much about many people. He even looked down on the popularity of his first few years. "I am more sure what I want to do."

See where you are

Zhou Xiangyu knew very well that he used clothes as a medium of value and self expression. "Every season, I first need to clearly convey the trend and experience, and then finish each garment meticulously after the theme is clear."

Zhou Xiangyu's design has never started with a good design clothes, but rather linked with his own design and the way of life of young people. What they like and what is cool is very important to Zhou Xiangyu, and the brand will eventually become a follower of values and lifestyle.

Of course, Zhou Xiangyu also waited for the spring of men's clothing market.

For a long time, Chinese men wear clothes in two categories. One is that they do not know what is suitable for themselves, and the other is wearing the safest and most conservative.

But after 2012, Zhou Xiangyu discovered that men in China now know their own style better. If they look at one thing, they will do everything possible to buy it. In those years, many luxury brands also put more resources into men's clothing market.

Zhou Xiangyu has been insisting on his own style. His design has been regarded as too westernized by many Chinese people. But he thinks, "design is an international affair, and designers should not have nationality". His design does not belong to any country, but is integrated with all kinds of literary Zhou Xiangyu's own style.

In recent years, Zhou Xiangyu has not paid much attention to the evaluation of Chinese fashion circles. He has put more energy into the international market.

In June 2014, Zhou Xiangyu had been in London Fashion week for the fifth time. Many of the buyers were watching the show in Zhou Xiangyu.

Zhou Xiangyu believes that "designers should be most clear about where they are in this industry". He values the recognition of international standards rather than the self indulge in small circles.

Next step: Commercialization

Zhou Xiangyu's brand did not follow the path of steady development. In the first few years of his creation, he had already crossed the rapid rise of the brand. But now, the next stage facing Zhou Xiangyu is how to further expand the business and let the brand spread again, rather than just stay in the show or photo.

In recent years, the market environment has developed to the stage that can support the commercialization of the brand. But Zhou Xiangyu is also very cautious. Every step of the brand needs to be clearly positioned. "What is the best way to do in the limited team of a dozen people? Choose where to sell your products in the world. Every step has the most direct relationship with the future development of the brand".

The main line of Xander Zhou signature is now cooperating with first-line buyer shops in Hongkong, Beijing, Seoul, Spain, Italy, New York and Paris.

The MR.X by Xander Zhou on the second line of the second line also appears in the YOHO closer to the trend culture.

Goods on the electronic business platform.

After several years of brand accumulation, the commercialization of Xander Zhou is a more natural process. Now Zhou Xiangyu is very concerned about the sales situation of the brand, but his product and what brand are sold together is what he has been sticking to.

The criteria for evaluating a brand are multidimensional and comprehensive, including the design orientation of the product itself, whether it appears in the official schedule of the four fashion week, the word-of-mouth of international professionals, the ability to balance art and commerce, etc.

Now young independent designers in China are growing up in a blank market to fill their weaknesses.

Zhou Xiangyu thought, "now designers must be clear about what they want in chaos, what they can get, if they do not have a clear positioning, they will easily become victims in chaos."

Now Zhou Xiangyu often tells friends of his colleagues that no matter what the people around him say, they must stick to their own affairs. No one knows more about the brand development than the designer himself, and insisting on using time in the things that he thinks is the greatest test for a designer.