GQ China certainly lived up to its reputation of bringing some of the most interesting and quirky menswear designers to show on the London stage. This season, it brought Shangguan Zhe, the designer behind the young, creative brand SANKUANZ, which is coming to OC in the fall. Hailing from Shanghai, Zhe has previously shown at Shanghai Fashion Week as well as in Paris. Now, in the London arena for Spring/Summer 2015, he delivered a fun, original, and theatrical collection, which kept the audience in simultaneous giggles and awe.
The show opened to cheery, cartoon-like music. The first model stepped out in an all-white ensemble with three-quarter length pants, a long-line sheer tee, a bomber jacket with graphic eyes drawn on the chest, and an LED-grill flashing out of his mouth. Taking a survey of the audience’s reaction, everyone was staring in awe at the models' mouths, absorbed by the flashing lights peeking out from behind the lips.
For the first half of the collection, clinically white, nylon pieces were scattered with bold graphics of everything from anime sketches to Chinese calligraphy, infinity symbols, frightened animals, barbed wire, and ambiguous, scribbled phrases like “Acid Club.”
We caught up with Shangguan after the show, and, along with the aid of a translator, he let us in on his very diverse reference points, which included Japanese manga, boxing fights, teenage street style, and Russian prisoners. Specifically, he told us that the bold, colorful, cartoon eyes came directly from Japanese video games.
“Cutting-edge functional fabrics have been mixed with traditional workwear to create a cross-pollination aesthetic,” read the official press release. The collection featured technical nylon jackets, mesh tees, fur and fringed boxer shorts, printed, baggy vests, and oversized hooded sweatshirts. The palette remained largely restricted to white until a theatrical, exuberant portion of the show, when it switched to black. Models’ faces were veiled with cloth hanging from hats, and their hands were fitted with carved, gimmicky props. Huge talon-like sculptures, wooden lobster claws, and Popeye The Sailor-like fists had the crowd delivering applause.
We asked Shangguan what we could expect from him next. Sighing and looking pretty exhausted, he said, “there would be a much-need break, first.”
E-mail ONLINE@OPENINGCEREMONY.US to be notified once the Spring/Summer 2015 collection hits OC!
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Photos by Tia Simon-Campbell
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The show opened to cheery, cartoon-like music. The first model stepped out in an all-white ensemble with three-quarter length pants, a long-line sheer tee, a bomber jacket with graphic eyes drawn on the chest, and an LED-grill flashing out of his mouth. Taking a survey of the audience’s reaction, everyone was staring in awe at the models' mouths, absorbed by the flashing lights peeking out from behind the lips.
For the first half of the collection, clinically white, nylon pieces were scattered with bold graphics of everything from anime sketches to Chinese calligraphy, infinity symbols, frightened animals, barbed wire, and ambiguous, scribbled phrases like “Acid Club.”
We caught up with Shangguan after the show, and, along with the aid of a translator, he let us in on his very diverse reference points, which included Japanese manga, boxing fights, teenage street style, and Russian prisoners. Specifically, he told us that the bold, colorful, cartoon eyes came directly from Japanese video games.
“Cutting-edge functional fabrics have been mixed with traditional workwear to create a cross-pollination aesthetic,” read the official press release. The collection featured technical nylon jackets, mesh tees, fur and fringed boxer shorts, printed, baggy vests, and oversized hooded sweatshirts. The palette remained largely restricted to white until a theatrical, exuberant portion of the show, when it switched to black. Models’ faces were veiled with cloth hanging from hats, and their hands were fitted with carved, gimmicky props. Huge talon-like sculptures, wooden lobster claws, and Popeye The Sailor-like fists had the crowd delivering applause.
We asked Shangguan what we could expect from him next. Sighing and looking pretty exhausted, he said, “there would be a much-need break, first.”
E-mail ONLINE@OPENINGCEREMONY.US to be notified once the Spring/Summer 2015 collection hits OC!
Photos by Tia Simon-Campbell
