Found in Translation Inline
Photo: Marcio Madeira1/11Yves Saint Laurent, Fall 2004
"Yves did a 'Chinese' collectsion in 1977 that was really the point of departure for me when I began designing my 'Chinese' collectsion. I was also watching Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love over and over again that year. I adore his films, and the soundtrack to that film was what I ultimately used as the music for the runway show of that collectsion. The film The Last Emperor was also quite inspirational to me, and many of the images from that film were on my design board that season. The yellow sequin evening dress that is in the exhibit was in fact inspired by one of the last emperor Puyi's robes." —Tom Ford
Photo: Marcus Tondo / GoRunway.com2/11Vivienne Westwood, Spring 2012
"I have one or two treasures. They are my Chinese vases, which I bought in Hong Kong. Chinese scholars would sit all day meditating and discussing a Ming vase. When I go to New York, I sometimes spend three days on end looking at the collectsion of Chinese paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They have such a vast archive they can change the exhibition so that I always see new things." —Vivienne Westwood
Photo: Monica Feudi / Feudiguaineri.com3/11Jason Wu, Fall 2012
"As designers, we look to visuals for inspiration. And China is a very visual culture. There are so many subjects, from the different dynasties to the textiles to the different techniques. It's a subject that's intriguing for people, especially for Western designers that haven't grown up seeing it. You want to look outside of your box sometimes." —Jason Wu
Photo: Yannis Vlamos / InDigitalteam | GoRunway4/11Giambattista Valli, Fall 2013 Haute Couture
"Being Italian, I was born with the dream of Marco Polo traveling from Venice through the Silk Road and back again, but I was never literal and unvarnished about the aesthetics of it in my work. China is an inspiration that I like traveling through the threads of my clothes, not on them in a tangible way." —Giambattista Valli
Photo: Marcus Tondo / Indigitalimages.com5/11"When I travel to any city, I try to look into whether there are any chinoiserie sites to tour, like the Chinese Tea House on the grounds of Frederick the Great's summer palace outside Potsdam; Catherine the Great's Orangery in Saint Petersburg with its shimmering glass bead walls; or the fabulous Banqueting Rooms at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. My enthusiasm can also be seen at home. One room in my apartment is filled with my collectsions of Chinese bric-a-brac, displayed on antique mother-of-pearl inlay furniture, surrounded by hand-painted peony tree wallpaper on silver foil." —Anna Sui
Photo: Marcus Tondo / GoRunway.com6/11Emilio Pucci, Spring 2013
"I think fashion's continuous exploration of China is due to the extreme richness in culture it represents. Contrary to European fashion, it seems to have evolved at a much slower rate, but as a result it has acquired layers and layers in how it's interpreted. It looks sensational seen both through a minimalistic eye, as well as from a Baroque point of view." —Peter Dundas
Photo: Courtesy of Valentino7/11Valentino, Shanghai Collection 2013
"In 2013 we presented in Shanghai a seasonless collectsion mixing prêt-à-porter, accessories, and haute couture into a surprising whole: a manifesto. The focus was on one single color—red, the 'trait d'union' between Valentino, whose association with red is almost a given, and a hue that's so integral to Chinese culture. History, culture, and solid traditions have always been important for us. We are always looking and researching for contaminations from different backgrounds, and China has such a significant heritage that we continuously fish from this treasure." —Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli
Photo: Courtesy of Vivienne Tam8/11Vivienne Tam, Spring 1995
"I am Chinglish. To me it means choice—to be fluent in mixing Chinese and English. In my case, East and West cultures. It has been my natural creative impulse. It is my passion. It is my inspiration." —Vivienne Tam
9/11
Photo: Marcio Madeira / FirstView.com10/11Dries Van Noten, Fall 2010
"There is the immediacy of the aesthetic itself: the colors, the textures, the emblems, its ornate nature, the harmony of seemingly opposite elements. But there is also how we get to perceive this culture through the prism of the fascination our culture held for China at different periods of our past, from the 17th to 19th century. China became a symbol for the exotic, the other, the mysterious. This only adds to its potency." —Dries Van Noten
Photo: Yannis Vlamos / GoRunway.com11/11Mary Katrantzou, Fall 2011
"I was particularly drawn to chinoiserie in the research for my Fall 2011 collectsion. I looked at priceless objets d'art and the refined eye of women who collects them—Coromandel screens, Fabergé eggs, Qianlong Dynasty china, Meissen porcelain. The objects inspired the garments themselves: The curvilinear forms of vases gave a fillip of volume to dresses, porcelain bowls become rounded skirts on pinafores. These possessions, which hold so much cultural heritage, formed the basis for my hyperreal, decorative prints, re-engineered to the woman's body." —Mary Katrantzou
