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Staffonly is a forward-thinking contemporary menswear label set up in 2015 by two lifelong friends and designers, Shimo Zou and Une Yea, following their respective graduations in London, after w to Shanghai. The l a fresh take on tra menswear by harn sharp concepts, an incorporating a va of innovative mate in creating functio and sculpted silho

In keeping with of contemporary C fashion design, the brand is eclectic, witty and bold. Th Staffonly man the p design for “always has an abundance of curiosity, a sens of humour”, and is willing “to break the rules and explore today’s unknown era of the world”.

Explain the designers: “Our design team looks into topics and themes releva everyone – at least people in cities of at the moment. It’s the current lifestyl thinking bubbles. W have done is to refl we have seen and h our own witty and narrative way.”

Such a fluid fash mindset has seen the accolades flow thick and fast in China’s booming fashion market. Part of the Labelhood platform in China, which showcases emerging designers, the brand was most recently selected as one of six finalists for the Business of Fashion China Prize; the label currently sells in ncluding hine-A, Dover g and I.T. y collaborated ka Tiger, o sneaker for the the sports and ng a series of nnovations, Zou the front of the by traditional for novelty. a are acutely conscious that China’s global fashion moment, despite the global pandemic, is now at hand. “The term ‘Made in China’ no longer equates with ‘cheap’ and ‘large-scale production’ now,” they say. “With more and more creative thinking and design forces merging into

Chinese has gradually become a symbol we can be proud of. ‘Made in China’ means something very different to people today and brings with it a new message to the world.”

Zou grew up in Shenzhen, then studied womenswear at London College of Fashion, followed by an MA in Menswear Design. During that time, she honed her design skills at prestigious fashion houses such as Alexander McQueen, Erdem and Tom Ford. Likewise, Yea obtained a Masters in Accessory Design at the Royal College of Art and won Best Fashion Item in Paris in 2014 for her “Are We Slaves of Objects Around Us” collection; she also worked as a menswear designer at Armani’s Milan headquarters.

For autumn/winter 2020, under the theme “Set Up a Memorial for Those Things That Never Happened”, the pair has channelled influences from writing to Vancouver, Canada-based British artist David Spriggs, in what they say is a story about imagination and the creative process itself. “We prefer to extract the vibe and emotions from what we have seen and heard when we digest our ideas for designing, instead of directly translating artistic visual elements,” they explain. “The lightness and void in Spriggs’s work is a new language for us and that inspires us to describe poetic blurred boundaries.” Ultimately, the collection is about future possibilities, and the ambiguous boundary that lies between imagination and reality.

The oversized parka/bomber jacket featuring unconventional details has become one trademark look of Staffonly style, while in this collection, a transformable hoodie resembles a sailor’s shirt. The hoodie embodies “the witty gene of Staffonly”. The pair have used the high-tech microfibre Ultrasuede on garments, a soft structure carrying a matte texture, with laser-cut sharp-butsoft edge overlaps.

Staffonly first sold in Hong Kong through Lane Crawford with its autumn/ winter 2016 collection. How do Zou and Yea compare and contrast Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese style? “Hong Kong citizens have strong personalities and their look is quite modern and smart,” says Zou. “But Mainland Chinese taste is somehow really dynamic, given the diversity of different cultural areas. Also, there’s this spirit of discovering undiscovered things. Chinese people are still forming their styles by trying everything bold, which for me is a phenomenon I love to see.”

If you haven’t yet discovered Staffonly, it’s time to embolden your style.