Laurence Xu and Nanjing yunjin

chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2015-04-20 13:08

Laurence Xu is one of the top international clothing designers from China. His designs have been known to employ a variety of traditional Chinese techniques and highlight cultural aspects, thus putting China on the international fashion map.

One such technique that Xu has adopted into his works is yunjin, a type of brocade from Nanjing with a history of over 1500 years. As an intangible cultural heritage of Nanjing, yunjin will play an important role at "Nanjing Week" during the Expo Milano 2015, to display the city's ancient culture.

Xu's yunjin fashion show at the Paris Haute Couture Autumn/Winter Fashion Week 2013 impressed the audience, thanks to the magnificent combination of contemporary and tradition elements.

Xu took 30 dresses to his "Dunhuang" fashion show at the Paris Haute Couture Spring / Summer Fashion Week 2015 on January 27, 2015. The collection displayed the artistic charm of the ancient Silk Road and four of his pieces drew global attention to the handmade knitting art of yunjin.

Xu has developed a special relationship with Nanjing ever since he first saw laid eyes on Nanjing yunjin over 10 years ago. After taking his yunjin clothes to the fashion world, much of the recently-positive publicity of yunjin is owed to his persistence in featuring the style in his work.

Only 300 to 400 meters of Nanjing yunjin is produced every year, resulting in an average daily output of little over one meter in length. The price of yunjin stands at around 15,000 yuan per meter. The style may experience an increase in price in the coming years, owing to potential rises in the cost of gold silk thread, silk and labor.

Precious material, complex craft and scarce production make yunjin a high-grade garment material, as well as the first part in Xu's five-year plan of "Chinese customization".

Thanks to the persistence and innovation of Xu, Nanjing yunjin continues to show off its magnificence and beauty. It is hoped that Xu can make the yunjin more attractive during "Nanjing Week" from July 15 to 22.

A story for 10 years

In 2003, the Nanjing Yunjin Research institute received a call from a man saying that he has seen Nanjing yunjin on the Internet and wanted to see it in person. That person was Laurence Xu, who, after seeing the beauty of yunjin brocade, decided to show it to the world.

Helping Nanjing brocade gain further global attention, famous Chinese actress, Zhou Yun, attended the Venice Film Festival in 2007 wearing a yunjin dress. Since that time, Xu has employed brocade in many of his designs. "We can show the world that China has some really marvelous historical culture," said Xu.

The two shows at the Paris Haute Couture Autumn/Winter Fashion Week helped to show the charm of Nanjing yunjin. It also helped inspire the Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute to promote yunjin as high-end customized clothes.

"Paris Haute Couture Autumn/Winter Fashion Week is greatly different from general Spring/Summer fashion shows. With a 100-year history in France, it is the only high-end customized clothes fashion week in the world. There are only 15 people who have the high-end customized clothes design identity at the event, which means that despite some brands being world famous, they are not included in the high-end customized brand list," said Xu.

Xu shipped yunjin textile machines to the Fashion Show 2013 in Paris by sea. The first show opened to the backdrop of the textile machine, showing Chinese culture to the world. "Until then they knew that the material of yunjin is woven by gold, silver and feathers of birds and animals and the output of this material is only over one meter one day," said Wu.

These events have helped usher in a new age of high-end customized clothes for Nanjing yunjin.

Innovation

To highlight quintessence

The consistent development of Nanjing yunjin over the last 1590 years owes to the persistence of the people of Nanjing.

It is a career involving elderly experts and young business elites, including Wang Baoling, director of the Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute, and Wu Ying, vice president of the Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute Company.

"Director Wang and his generation went through the hardest time for the yunjin art. Now we've come in to take over all the promotion and marketing work to allow the elder experts to continue working on the crafts and skills," said Wu.

Wu attended both two shows in Paris and almost cried when she heard admiration for yunjin from foreigners. She said, "I felt all efforts had paid back."

Many designers think yunjin is too outdated to enter the modern fashion world, but that is not a problem for Lawrence Xu.

"If an art wants to grow with time, it must be innovated. Yunjin was suitable for traditional Chinese clothes because of its magnificent appearance but it doesn't tally with modern tailoring methods. I always choose unicolor yunjin pieces and add patterns by myself. It is not an easy process but I love it and I'm willing to do it," said Wu.

Many have credited Xu's devoted efforts to the transformation of yunjin from fabric pieces into gorgeous garments and for showcasing the art on the world stage.

"Traditional colors like bright red, yellow and sapphire blue are not suitable for modern clothing, which prefers multi-colored and totem-type patterns. Yunjin needs reformation, but it has not totally changed. We should keep its traditional nature and then adjust it to suit modern fashion so that people all over the world can like it and enjoy it," said Wu.

New ideas

Yunjin is more than just materials for garments

Laurence Xu designed a red yunjin clothing piece for the Paris fashion show in 2015 and the Nanjing Yunjin Research Institute spent over half a year preparing the shell fabric.

However, the design was unveiled to the public prematurely because of CCTV Discovery Channel program. Xu had to design another one, but he always wanted to employ "Donghuang" elements on stage, so the process was already in his mind.

Last September Xu took a fancy to a yunjin chiffon piece after seeing it for the first time. "Emperor Wanli's (1563-1620) dragon robe used chiffon in its production. There are two kinds of method to make it, one is to produce brocade on the chiffon and another is to produce lines on the chiffon before brocading. We chose the first one," said Xu.

Wu Ying said that the biggest characteristic of yunjin is that it is all made by hand. The lines and patterns are all made one at a time and one little mistake can waste the entire piece of yunjin. "The patterns in the chiffon are made by employing different strength which is very hard to handle," said Xi.

"Xu needs seven meters of chiffon and we can only send some of it once it is ready. It will take two months to finish the first part of the process and another month to make brocade on it," said Wu.

Four yunjin clothes were shown in the "Donghuang" fashion show in Paris, including the "golden flower season" dress which was worn by a 9-year-old model.

Xu's four garments are specially designed. Three of the garments are blue and were inspired by Tang dynasty (618-907) clothing. "Women in the Tang dynasty tied a cloth belt around their stomachs and some parts of the dress will change its shape a little. I enlarged it to make it more modern."

Besides garments, four pairs of shoes and two bags are also made of yunjin. "Yunjin is being used on shoes for the first time," said Wu. He added that there were many factories that wanted to cooperate with "auspicious yunjin," Nanjing Yunjin Research institute's brand, after the Paris Haute Couture Autumn/Winter Fashion Week.

Source: Jiangsu Business

[Photo provided to China Daily]