Chen Xuzhi

Chen Xuzhi graduated with a BA in womenswear from Central Saint Martins, and opted to intern at then-emerging labels J.W. Anderson and Craig Green, experiences which he says shaped both his aesthetic and business acumen.

Founded in 2014, Chen Xuzhi’s eponymous label Xu Zhi is praised for its innovative approach to material and garment construction, as well as its emphasis on craftsmanship. Put in layman’s terms, Chen’s work typically takes common materials — satin, denim, jacquard — and de- then re-constructs them into pleasing, complex, and often chaotic forms.

Desiger Chen Xuzhi often looks to the classics — traditional oil paintings, flapper fashion, and poets like Emily Dickinson, for instance — to inspire his work, but in such a way that the end results are nothing but contemporary.

Xu Zhi’s latest collection for SS20 — perhaps the label’s sunniest and most carefree to date — pares down some of its exquisite detailing while retaining the romantic softness and streamlined sensibility that have made the label’s designs a catwalk mainstay.

Born: 1992

Education: Central Saint Martins

Website: https://xuzhi.co.uk/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xu_zhi_/