Zhuen Cai

Through his clothes Zhuen Cai describes and celebrates a visit to Yuyuan Garden, a traditional Chinese garden built in Shanghai during the Ming Dynasty. The clear goal here was to use fashion as a poetic canvas, to prove that clothing can go beyond being just a product: it can express emotions and memories. The distinctive natural colours of the fabrics were obtained using persimmon dyes. Natural colours were applied also to the cotton and linen fabrics, to turn them into scenery and provide them with texture. Instead of cutting the fabric, Zhuen explores the relationship between the garment and the body to mimic his own personal relationship with the garden and, at the same time, also as a way to save excess fabric. Sustainability is thus combined with Eastern philosophy and with modern fashion, creating a profoundly Chinese aesthetic.