New York Chinese designer Xu Yiwei: All comes from nothing minimalist art fashion

Qing Mei University Alumni Xu Yiwei

Xu Yiwei

Eva Xu, founder of ACFN (All Comes From Nothing), graduated from the Fine Arts Academy of Tsinghua University, and later went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for further study. He studied with contemporary art master Nick Cave and MFA. Fellowship (Master of Arts Full Award) Honorary Graduation. Has worked for fashion brands Michael Kors and Ralph Lauren. In 2014, ACFN, an independent designer and women's wear brand, was created to create a simple and rich design wardrobe for women in creative careers, to try the combination of art and fashion, and explore the possibilities of modern art in fashion. In February 2016, he brought personal brand ACFN to the 16th autumn and winter New York Fashion Week and received high praise.

New York, London, Paris and Milan are also known as the four international fashion weeks. Fashion Week can be said to be a year-round fashion indicator, and designers who have emerged in the fashion week will be sought after by people. In the autumn/winter 16 New York Fashion Week in February 2016, the cutting-edge Chinese designer Xu Yiwei took her personal brand to the fashion week to attract people's attention. When Xu Yiwei returned to China on a short and busy itinerary, the reporter was fortunate to accompany her teacher to meet her and interview her.

Xu Yiwei, who had just finished a show, looked a little weary. When he saw the teacher, he came to a friendly hug. Exquisite makeup, hair tips, even if fatigue can not hide the calm and confidence from the inside out, show is her stage. Put on your running shoes, put on your own coat, and walk into life like that. What she looks like is exactly what she hopes to serve—women who use creativity as a career and an artistic lifestyle.

Not crazy, not live

At the New York Fashion Week, Xu Yiwei used Sol LeWitt's minimalism to demonstrate the tranquility of order with the simplest elements, stunning the world. Totem-style mystery, the selection of limited colors, reveals the fascination of ideas in subtle areas, and she hopes to convey a lifestyle attitude through fashion.

On the stage of the New York Fashion Week, it seems to outsiders that Xu Yiwei has been "successful." But in her own eyes, this is not enough. When asked whether he thought he was successful, Xu Yiwei's answer was: "No, no, no; far, far, far away." She shook her head and looked seriously, not as humble. This is as a designer's honesty and measurement of himself.

At the age of eight, the French fashion station’s 24-hour loop show opened Xu Yiwei’s dream of fashion. For children, a very boring show, Xu Yiwei has been watching the TV before, see relish, perhaps this is the choice of the so-called fate. So she decided to be a fashion designer, to apply for the Central Academy of Arts and Designs, because that was the only institution she knew of at the time. Childhood is overdone, young dreams are left behind, and they wake up in a high school afternoon. Xu Yiwei took the examination of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts and wished to enter the clothing profession. Not so much the fate of care, it is better to say Xu Yiwei's own choice. Not a family, so when you can afford to buy magazines to seize every opportunity, in high school, bite the bullet and visit their own can not afford to buy a brand shop. In this way, he went to the Art Institute of Chicago from the United States and went to a solid and steady step by step.

Accumulated for many years, you have to be disgraced. When I set foot on New York Fashion Week, I was willing to get it. That's it. New York Fashion Week may be the end of some people’s dreams, but it is only a small step in her self-fulfillment. She said that fashion week is not just an exhibition and presentation, but a means to establish brand awareness. There is no eternal success, only an everlasting brand.

"Our line, once entered, there is no escape route." She laughed, how many helpless and how much love.

If you ask Xu Yiwei, when will the fashion design be closed? Her answer is probably not madness, no survival, no death.

Nothing happens

While working in New York, Xu Yiwei started to create his own clothing brand. In the process of socializing with friends of many arts festivals, she is concerned about such a group of people--women engaged in creative careers. They may be artists, they may be curators, or they may be florists. Their ideas are so fascinating, life gives them a mature glow, but they suffer from a lack of a simple and good match for them, but they are also design-oriented. suitable clothes. This is the original intention of Xu Yiwei's ACFN independent women's clothing brand. It is designed to suit these attractive women who do not need to use their own body to get praise. "Fashion is an accomplice, not her calling card."

Every time the old team made a comeback, the company's design philosophy was not unified with its own. Xu Yiwei took the opportunity to establish his own portal, and the first challenge before her was to determine the brand name. The name, as a carrier of brand connotation, is also the first impression given to people. It is too important for a cutting-edge designer who wants to make a comeback abroad. However, the short and easy-to-remember words have already been registered. In the end, Xu Yiwei decided to use an acronym in a sentence to name his brand. She pervades classics and is convinced by some ideas in the Tao Te Ching. Laozi has something to say. Everything is born and there is no birth. Also said: Daosheng, one, two, two, three, three things. Like her favorite minimalism, the road to Jane. An extremely smooth cement wall with a brush, a natural stone, simple, and the atmosphere are elegant and peaceful. All comes from nothing, from nothing, and finally returned to nothing, not ignorant simple, but mature roundness. ACFN is the feminine charm that Xu Yiwei appreciates and her design creed.

Brand was established in 2014, and it entered the New York International Fashion Week in 2016. From scratch, the difficulties involved are self-evident. Although they have worked in large companies, being a boss is another completely different experience. Xu Yiwei still remembers that even if he actually got the first market order, he wouldn't even follow up on it. On that occasion, she really felt a sense of accomplishment that was recognized. Once worried about production, while worrying about quality, he must also consider sales. Xu Yiwei frankly stated that he did not sleep in the first year of creating a brand. Under her efforts, the brand operation slowly went on track, and her own physical store and large department store settled in. On her face, her face was clearly written with relief. To plant a tree, the best time is twenty years ago, followed by the present. "I'm very happy, I've dug myself in the hole. I've already planted it. After that, I'm watering it, let it grow, let it not die, let it not be without nutrients, not water, it's a long-lasting process."

“I hope my brand is socially functional and socially worthwhile.” Regarding the brand's future, Xu Yiwei expressed that she wanted to be an artistic cross-border fashion and developed from an independent designer brand to become an apparel, art cooperation, and resident artist. The diversity of the project helps those artists who have a difficult life.

It is not difficult to have a dream. It is difficult to connect your dream with the destiny of more people. It is not difficult to have experience, and it is difficult to continue after thousands of sails.

The last waywardness

Taking interest as a profession is not forced by the outside world to lack of interest and coldness. It is a passion to raise interest to a higher level in repetitive work and never regrets. Obviously, Xu Yiwei is the latter.

As a person who has received both education systems at home and abroad, Xu Yiwei has a clearer understanding of his choice. Domestic education is more basic and professional, and foreign education is closer to an eye-opening experience. It teaches you how to be an artist. In contrast, artists are more likely to maintain their own opinions and will not be easily disturbed by external sounds. To be a designer, one must face the test of the market. In two sessions, she discovered that being a designer is the path she wants to go. Undoubtedly, she chose a harder road. In this regard, she agrees with what the teacher says and learns about fashion design. At the beginning, everyone wanted to be creative, but at a certain stage, it will be found that being dressed is the most rewarding. Being able to design everyday clothes that can be worn while expressing creativity is the best expression of creativity. The gospelmen danced, and they were able to open.

So how do you balance market demands and designer ideals?

Xu Yiwei said with certainty: "I wouldn't design a flower skirt because the market wants to dress. Because I don't wear floral skirts. I don't design things I don't want to wear. It's the last bit of headstrong. "The way she described her willfulness is seen by reporters as a designer's insistence. It is not to cater to the prevailing sluggishness of sex and she has deliberately done some concise and neutral designs. But because they like minimalism, they use it as the aesthetic foundation of their own brand. Regardless of how many elements they add, Xu Yiwei hopes that ACFN will give people a style that is not overstated, overly decorative, and cool. Not to advertise the so-called feminist rights, to be an independent women's brand. But because they understand women, they are willing to give good designs to them. Compared with feminist rights, she values ​​the value and significance of individual survival as an independent personality in this world. Xu Yiwei did not excessively value his Chinese identity in New York, nor did he attempt to erase the Chinese imprint on his body. She just does what she wants to do, likes to do it, and is willing to do it all the time.

There are high heels and running shoes; there is courage and gentleness. Just like ACFN, smooth and natural, well-trimmed, with elegant colors, flattering and charming, watch clothes like people. In this 30-year-old year, Xu Yiwei realized his own way and designed minimalist fashion.