FENG CHEN WANG

Born in China and based in London, Royal College of Art graduate Feng Chen Wang is one of the most promising young Chinese designers making waves in the West. Known for her futuristic outerwear and unisex silhouettes, which have been likened to iconic Japanese designer Rei Kawakubo’s work, Wang nabbed a nomination for the 2016 LVMH Prize after just two seasons on the London Fashion Week men’s runway, and secured coveted shelf space at the likes of Dover Street Market and Lane Crawford. For her spring/summer 2019 offering, Wang was obsessed with the idea of “halves,” both in their physical and abstract senses. There was splicing and merging of shirts, and jeans with extra legs attached, while sneakers (from Wang’s Converse partnership) were also cut up and reattached to make one shoe. Colour-wise, the idea of halves was represented by neutral tones of black, white and grey punctuated by shades of pink and blue to signify the contrasting emotions of happiness and despair, like yin and yang. Even jewellery featured sculptures of holding hands. To drive the theme home, Wang also launched the other half of her brand this season, debuting her first womenswear collection.