Shanghai crochet shines in fashion week
SHANGHAI’S heritage skills, such as crochet and wool-knitting, were highlighted during the city’s annual haute couture fashion week as handicraft masters joined hands with young fashion designers.
Lin Hua, a practitioner of Xinzhuang crochet, a listed heritage skill from Minhang District, was excited after watching a fashion show on the Bund during the 11th Shanghai New Customization Week.
Her traditional weaving skill, dating back to the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), is used in the newly unveiled collection of leading customization brand WJX.
The delicate crochet patterns, jointly created by Lin and Ye Qing, founder and designer of the brand, were used as key adornments on the fashion costumes.
“I feel proud and excited because the traditional skill can be seen by more people,” said Lin. “It is the true meaning of the passing down of these arts.”
Using a crochet hook made of bamboo, bone or stainless steel, along with cotton, linen, silk or woolen yarn, the craftspeople, relying on their deft hands and smart ideas, create patterns with different forms and changes.
The skill, one of Shanghai’s first batch of listed intangible cultural heritages, originated in the town in 1907, when clerks of the downtown Xujiahui Cathedral recruited local female villagers in Xinzhuang to make crochets for clothes.
Local artisans later incorporated Shanghai-style patterns and developed them into a unique East-meets-West skill.
The delicate weaving products became so popular they were sold across the Yangtze River Delta region via the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway through the 1980s.
Lin learned crocheting skills from her mother and grandmother. She later had a chance to study under Jin Longhua, a senior crochet maker.
With the help of the Shanghai Public Art Cooperation Center and Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Lin cooperated with Ye to modify the skills and patterns to adapt the historical skill to fashion designs.
“Through such cross-field cooperation between artisans and designers, the beauty of traditional skills can better match modern social aesthetics and return to the daily lives of people,” said Zhang Lili, operating director of the center.
The center has helped many other traditional skills, such as the Shanghai-style wool-embroidery and knitting as well as the ancient embroidery of China’s She ethnic minority to cooperate with designers, artists and fashion brands, he said.
The city’s annual haute couture fashion week was held from Wednesday to Sunday in the wider Yuyuan block between Yuyuan Garden Malls and the Bund.
I feel proud and excited because the traditional skill can be seen by more people ... It is the true meaning of the passing down of these arts.
Lin Hua Practitioner of Xinzhuang crochet