About Me
Hi, I'm Jiarui, a fashion graduate from the University of Edinburgh.
Jiarui is a Chinese fashion graduate from the University of Edinburgh, who specializes in creative draping, pattern cutting and print designs. Her personal interest is to explore he concept through innovative draping and structures. Her research topics often link Chinese culture with contemporary fashion.
With the experiences in China and the UK, Jiarui often expresses her family heritage, personal observation of Chinese social phenomenon or personal experiences in her design development. Cultural and structural aspects are her interests in fashion. She likes to research through primary pictures and interviews, then connect with Western artists and designers. Her design works are generally inspired by creative draping or deconstruction ideas.
INSPIRATION
"Compression" in Chinese urban life was the inspiration.
The concept of this collection came from my primary observation in Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Nanjing. China has undergone rapid urbanization in the past decades, but there are also dystopian sides about it. I focus on the dystopian elements of urbanization through my observation of Chinese ‘villages in cities’ and the crowded underground, to reveal the difficult lives of young working Chinese people in metropolitan cities.
I wanted to explore escapism from modern, crowded life through clothing by reinterpret tailoring through several deconstruction experiments simulating the ‘compression’ concept. The experimental structures and tailoring were combined to inspire draping and pattern cutting in this collection.
MY WORK
PORTFOLIOS
Final outfit by Jiarui (jewelry by Ning Zhang)
Concept page
Hanger experiments inspired by urban villages
Compression experiments
Look 2 (Jewelry collaboration with Ning Zhang)
Look 3 (Jewelry collaboration with Ning Zhang)
Look 4
Look 5
DETAIL
Hyperdensity and compression in urban life from silhouettes to textiles
I wanted to express this kind of compression and breathlessness of Chinese new generation after my trip to Guangzhou urban villages and observation of the underground in my hometown Nanjing. I researched into the photographer Michael Wolf who captured dystopian sites in Hong Kong and Tokyo. I also collaborated with jewelry designer Ning Zhang, who provided the necklace and earrings.
"Compression and deconstruction are the keywords of this collection from silhouettes to textiles."
Graduate Fashion Week in partnership with:
