Mytheresa spotlights Chinese designers with exclusive collections

Luxury e-commerce platform Mytheresa is launching four exclusive capsule collections as part of its China Designer Programme to give emerging designers from the region global exposure.

The initiative debuts with four womenswear collections from Susan Fang, Didu, Jacques Wei and Xu Zhi, described by Mytheresa as the “new generation of Chinese fashion designers”.

Each of the designers was chosen by a jury that included Mytheresa’s vice president of womenswear and kidswear fashion buying Tiffany Hsu, Ye Ming Zi chief executive of Guoye Culture, and Chuxuan Feng, founder of Huasheng Media and editor in chief of T Magazine China.

To celebrate the programme, Mytheresa plans to promote the exclusive collections internationally through its combined two million followers on Chinese and international social media, activations involving key opinion leaders, as well as a physical event in Shanghai with the designers.

Michael Kliger, chief executive of Mytheresa, said in a statement: “We are excited to feature the creativity and beauty of Chinese designers though the launch of the China Designer Programme by Mytheresa and to give these talented designers access to our global audience and platform.”

Mytheresa unveils capsule collections with Susan Fang, Didu, Jacques Wei and Xu Zhi

Susan Fang, who has become a hit on the London Fashion Week scene, has designed a collection heavily inspired by her Chinese cultural heritage. The pieces highlight her use of gauze, which she prints and dyes, before cutting into pieces of different widths, and then folds it by hand into multi-layered, three-dimensional designs.

Didu’s ‘Dessert Insomnia’ collection draws inspiration from American artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s colourful flower paintings, while her silhouettes are designed to fit different body shapes.

Mytheresa states that Jacques Wei’s capsule is a tribute to rebellious 90’s muses, featuring butterfly and floral motifs and prints on minimal dresses, structured corset slings and oversized suits, while Xu Zhi recalls the hippy culture of the 1960s and 1970s with a collection featuring rough edges, flying feathers and hand-woven embroidery.

Commenting on the collections, Hse said: “It has been a true pleasure and honour to work so closely together with these highly talented designers and to collaborate with them on every step of the way from initial ideas and sketches to actual finished products.

“We are delighted to now present them and their vision to our global Mytheresa customer base and to see these beautiful designer capsules come to life within a beautiful campaign featuring Ci Ci Xiang and Emma Bei Pei.”

To showcase each collection, the online retailer has worked with T Magazine China to shoot editorial and video, which has been fully produced by a Chinese team and cast, including photographer Liang Zi and models Ci Ci Xiang and Emma Bei Pei. The China Designer Programme by Mytheresa capsule collections will launch on April 19.