'Communism never happened,' says Shangguan Zhe at PMFW
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Geopolitics made a rare foray on the Paris catwalks Sunday when the upstart Chinese brand Sankuanz said the world must wake up to the "reversal" of the old order. Rising star Shangguan Zhe's collection "Destroy" included clothes, often made from bio-chemical protection suits, emblazoned with charged slogans such as "Immigrant", "Natural Selection" and most controversially of all, "Communism Never Happened."
The designer, whose rebel spirit has won him a growing following, said in a week when Donald Trump has become US president he was asking people to take their "goggles off and look outside of political correctness and politics at the reversal of an established system". "I am not a fighter... I am just telling the world as it is right now," he told AFP.
On his slogan "Communism Never Happened", which appeared on the back of two of his coats, he said: "It is not really a slogan, it is just my observation. "As a young Chinese person this is true for me. China is not communist now, it wasn't when I was growing up, and I don't think it ever was," Zhe added.
With tension high between Washington and Beijing over Trump's attitude to Taiwan and fears of a trade war, he said "the only hope, the only opportunity to change this situation lies in rational creations by mankind like chemistry". Raw-edged military uniforms, jumpsuits and outfits made from Dayglo and synthetic DuPont material dominated his show which he said "hinted at a post-apocalyptic world".
Earlier in men's fashion week Balenciaga appropriated Democratic senator Bernie Sanders' campaign logo for some of the clothes in its show, held on the eve of Trump's inauguration. The gesture was seen as a snipe at the new US president who Sanders has insisted he could have beaten if he had of won the Democratic nomination. (AFP)