Clothing industry (Modes China)
The volume includes interviews with Zhang Da, designer of Shang Xia, a Chinese heritage label established under the umbrella of France's Hermes, up and coming designer Dooling Jiang of Digest Design, artist Alessandro Rolandi of Social Sensibilities R&D, photographer Ren Hang and students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts of Beijing.
Modes China also features a report on Shenzhen-based label ffiXXed and its original mode of production, and a visual essay on China's rising clothing industry, including a visit to new textile city Eastern Milan.
We hope this volume will contribute to the ongoing discussion on China, the practices of the clothing industry in general, and sustainability in particular, and that it will offer a few ideas to better understand China -and its clothing industry- in a larger context.
Boundless’ main inspiration is from two sources: one is the Chinese way of looking at things; the philosophy. Also the techniques of Chinese cutting, very flat cut, no draping or darts… it is interesting to see how the Chinese make clothes. Also traditionally we have different mentality of how we look at the body. Both Chinese and Japanese, we think the body should be covered, not shown to people. From ancient times Chinese and Japanese clothes were very loose. You cannot see the body directly. The materials were quite soft, normally made of silk cotton or linen. You can feel the shape of the body but you don’t actually see it. That enables more imagination.
Sexiness is expressed that way but not through the act of seeing. It is a different mentality and that is why we make clothes different from Europeans. Europeans tend to think that people should be proud of their body, so one function of the garment is to help show the form of the body, hence they make the hip part or the breasts look bigger, and invented cutting and sewing skills and techniques to realize these effects.
Another inspiration is ordinary life. It is interesting to see how everything is mixed: western things, Chinese things, old things, new things. Actually, it is quite a mess. Beijing is a mess. Sometimes I like this mess. It is bad taste, but interesting, and has much power.
-Zhang Da
To go back to the roots, it has to do with the whole education system. We, since primary school through middle school, high school till College, were always taught to follow the teacher’s ideas not ours. Once in college, we realize that we can’t find our own voice. Especially in Art College, we look for freedom, but we also need to consider the teachers’ opinion where the restrain comes from.
Speaking of the large environment, actually, most of the time, the market also doesn’t really appreciate what you created. You may make a piece that shows your own character or reflects social issues, or in my case, I tend to add into my design psychological concerns, but I think no one really understands. Most people value things by standard criteria, basically western standards of either minimalism or extremely luxury. So I think the restraining element is strong. Asian art is like a dead Hutong.
-Students at The Central Academy of Fine Arts
Let’s face it, the structure of the fashion industry itself (like many others) is fundamentally unsustainable from an environmental perspective: from cotton farming, to the divisions of labor in the production process, to the consumer practices that it requires to maintain itself.
There is already a huge excess of garments existing in the world, how could we imagine making more? This is part of the system that for better or worse defines the structures through which we live. Fashion is important to us because it connects to our everyday experience; it remains a potent field for discussions about self-identity, notions of authenticity, consumer culture, personal desire and how this affects creative production.
And we should clarify that when we use the term sustainable it’s more in this kind of context. It’s about taking a more subjective approach trying to define what ‘sustainability’ means on a much more personal, individual level.
Our definition of sustainable living stems from the every day social, cultural, economic and environmental contexts of the ffiXXed designers, ffiXXed producers and ffiXXed consumers, with enjoyment, comfort and stability.
-ffiXXed
The thing is to imagine a working day in a factory, optimized conditions and management (so time is counted almost perfectly); within this closed, efficient system, I claim a space (that is included in the factory policy, as I am a manager…) and a span of time during which I ask them to do whatever they feel like, something related to what is around them, not functional, poetic, ironical or even just funny; so it is not so much about what they do with this time, but simply the fact that they own it… and I was worried that they would simply find this situation useless or banal, but instead some of them really interpreted it as a chance to “do” something… to communicate something… to express something… I could tell this by the quality and the accuracy of some of their texts, their drawings, their projects ideas… they did not take this as leisure, but as a window… maybe conscious about it?
Maybe not? But it happened. It was fresh and surprising….they were free not to take part (several did not) or they might simply do this to respect the weird new order from the management… or interpret this as an eccentric invention of the boss, but although these thoughts might have cross their mind, they actually engage with this seriously and creatively… this was really a gift to me…. it was not granted… it was not given… no matter how much pressure they might feel from the fact that I was there with the authority of a manager… and actually at the time of the SUIBIAN project, the Social Sensibility Program did not exist, and I was just experimenting… it is after the results I got from SUIBIAN that the idea of creating a program was born.
There is something important linked with time and function, space and task to accomplish; to be able to interrupt this in its specific context and territory and allow something totally different to happen is an experience through which the possibility of a “difference” is not just suggested but made it real, for a little while…but happening, with the documentation of the gestures, actions and thoughts there to prove the existence of this event. The event cannot but leave some traces; no matter how aware or unconscious they are, because an important negotiation has happened about something that normally is not negotiable: working time.
-Alessandro Rolandi, Social Sensibilities R&D
The first time I was in Chengdu was for the Biennale. I don’t like the city. But I really like the people, their life there. They enjoy the weather, and they’re happy there.
They live a simpler life maybe. Work in the family’s shop, less worries. Less stress.
Slow life. There’s an interesting thing in Chengdu- have you heard of “the voice of China”? It’s a music show, with judges who decide if you’ll be a star or not.
Ahhh… I hate that!
In Chengdu, when there’s a competition there, the girls in Chengdu really want to join it. They’re eager to show themselves and be on TV.
Somebody told me Chengdu has the most beautiful girls in China?
Yeah, yeah, yeah! And also, they really like to show off themselves, by clothes, by singing or by TV. That’s why Chengdu is a special city.
Because they like to show off?
Yes. Because everybody there lives a slow life, but all the girls want to be stars. It’s interesting.
Haha, yes!
So that’s why I think that Chengdu is really China right now.
Like a good representation of China?
Yes, because China is not a very fast moving country, and the culture too. But the young people, they want to show themselves.
-Dooling Jiang, Digest Design
What about your upcoming exhibition in Stockholm? What are you showing there?
Since the exhibition is in a kind of museum, I have to choose what I show according to that. It’s quite restricted, no sexual content. Also, the curator is Chinese too, and he’s worried what would happen if word got back that the exhibition had been showing outlawed content. It would be controversial. I used to think that exhibiting abroad would be quite unrestricted, but after I went abroad I saw that galleries and museums everywhere have many restrictions as to what can be shown.
Is it easy to get a visa to travel abroad?
If you have an invitation letter it’s pretty easy. You still have to do a lot of work to prepare though, showing certificates etc. There was one photographer who applied for a visa and took one of the photo books he had his photos published in to show. It had nudes taken by other photographers too, so he was close to being denied the visa. When I apply for a visa I show different types of photos, and I say I do ‘beauty’ photography.
Do you have your own website?
I used to have one, but it had so many visitors that it got blocked. But I’m planning to set one up on servers abroad, and I use Flickr and tumblr.
Do you ever ‘jump the wall’ [expression for evading the ‘Great Firewall of China’ net censorship]?
No, I don’t. I kind of live in my own world. When I travelled I saw the newspapers’ coverage of China. What they report is still very one-sided, focusing on the negative parts only. So, I’d rather not see what they have to say.
-Ren Hang