A Huge Party for the Youth

On May 15th， 2021 China Graduate Fashion Week kicked off in Beijing. The event was co-organized by the China Fashion Association， the China Textile and Apparel Education Society and the China National Garment Association， with the China National Textile and Apparel Council and the Ministry of Education Design Professional Teaching Steering Committee as guiding organizations， and 751D·PARK Beijing Fashion Design Plaza as strategic partner.

Under the theme of “Smart Change”， 2021 China Graduate Fashion Week held 35 special shows， 35 video shows， and 2 professional competitions， as well as exhibitions for college fashion education achievements and so on across 6 days， attracting more than 2，000 students from 77 universities in China， the United Kingdom， Australia， South Korea， Pakistan， Italy， and France， which included 10 Chinese and foreign universities new to fashion week. In total， about 5，000 fashion works were presented during fashion week.

This fashion week provided a professional and high-standard exchange platform， to encourage a new generation of designers to understand market trends and help fashion colleges improve their education， so as to meet the needs for innovative design talent from the transforming and upgrading textile and apparel industry in China， boosting the development of Chinas fashion industries.

Guangdong Polytechnic： Leaping from a new start

92 sets of clothing in 17 series themed “Leap & Span”were presented during this fashion week. The shows meaning was to leap from a startpoint and begin a new journey. The collections covered various style elements such as sports and fashion， national inheritance and innovation， conceptual design and future exploration， traditional culture and street fashion， demonstrating the thoughts and propositions of the designers of the generation born in the 00s at a new starting point and on new journey. The works integrated architectural form and clothing structure， and utilized new materials to fulfill demand for innovative functions. They were fine arts combined with science and technology.

China Womens University： Post-pandemic era

The graduate designs focused on function， demonstrating the key words “Protection， Healing， Sustainability and Nostalgia” for creation through protective structures， details of practical functions， modular combination， as well as spiritually-comforting colors and materials. Graduates of Generation Zhadenriched fashion in the post-pandemic era with diverse expressions.

With the theme “Post-Pandemic Era”， more than 30 graduates from China Womens University presented more than 80 design works of 7 series， including sports and leisure series that balanced functions and fashion， as well as future sports series that combined technology and intelligence. Using sustainable materials， the designs focused on the balance of function and aesthetic in styles， colors， materials， craftsmanship and structure.

Hubei Institute of Fine Arts： Chu

Under the theme of “Chu”， the designs aimed to reconstruct and interpret traditional Chu culture through contemporary artistic language. Chu was not only the name of a state in ancient China， but is also another name for Hubei Province. Chu culture had the earliest ancient Chinese romantic art， and portrayed tenacious vitality in Hubei Province with its unique totem worship and brilliant colors. In an artistic way， the works also praised the people of Wuhan fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. This special release brought Chu culture from long ago into the present， reviving the tradition with fashion， to carry on and innovate Chu culture.

Chongqing University of Education： Inheriting

Graduates from the Fashion and Apparel Design Department of Chongqing University of Education chose “Inheriting” as their theme for graduation designs， meaning “coming down in a continuous line”. Their works not only continued to demonstrate the universitys positioning of “serving the growth of children aged 0-12，” but also highlighted the blood relationships between parents and children， focusing on the inheritance and development of parent-child clothing design language， creativity and fashion communication in parent-child clothing， while relying on timely international fashion information， to explore the social value of parent-child clothing design， and making designs meaningful to society.

School of Design Art， China Academy of Art： Reconstruction from Multiple Perspectives

More than 80 works from 38 graduates appeared on the China Academy of Arts graduation design show themed “Horizon”. The works were designed with an open concept and expressed with multi-dimensional elements. Young designers explored the contemporary adaptability of local traditional culture in series of urban nomads， literati hunters， and interconnection， to seek for and represent classic elements while trying to interpret inheritances such as oriental gardens， traditional paper lamps， British plaid and fishbone corsets. These works were records of moments of action to find the relations between inner expression and experimental movement， records of lives to explore the boundary between reality and imagination， and experimental products of redefined crossing space and style in artistic language.

Kunming University： All things can bealive， everything alive can be art

The graduation designs of Kunming University for this year focused on the rich and colorful national minority clothing in Yunnan Province. Based on the costumes of different national minorities in Southwest China， especially those of Jinuo， Hani and Wa， the graduates studied the traditional patterns， silhouette， colors and other elements of local costumes， and created innovative works combined with modern concepts. The featured collection of All Beings Alive took inspiration from Jinuo culture in Yunnan that advocates“All Beings are Alive in Nature”， utilized colorful lines and woven texture patterns to portray the mountains， rivers， trees and all living beings， adopted the silhouette and mix-and-match styles with strong romantic colors and popular elements， together reflecting the harmonious coexistence of human and nature.

Southwest University： Cocoon

Taking on “Cocoon” as the theme， the works from Southwest University were based on the standardization of clothing， while showing transcendence in diversified creative ideas， materials， color combinations and technological integration. Demonstrating interdisciplinary， cross-cultural， and cross-border themes， the graduates developed the concept of “cross-fashion”， showing the vision of College of Sericulture， Textile and Biomass Science of Southwest University， namely taking root in the Southwest China， and bearing the world in mind. The graduation designs of this year were divided into three collec- tions： graceful and interesting， declaring contemporary young peoples pursue of diverse and playful designs through diversified patterns and colors; elegance， representing the extraordinary aesthetic taste of the new generation of fashion people by smart tailoring and gentle collocation; silk cocoon， utilizing silk as the medium and cocoon as a means to show the focus on traditional culture and higher cultural literacy of contemporary college students.

Academy of Arts & Design， Tsinghua University： Door pusher

Door Pusher was the theme of the show for the graduation designs of Department of Textile and Fashion Design， Academy of Arts & Design， Tsinghua University， meaning that at this special moment while the world faces a lot of unknowns and has many hopes， the graduates broke free boldly， and reached out to push open the door of mediocrity and extremity to art， responding firmly to the inquiries of the times. Some of these works sought inspiration from historical and cultural heritages such as festival patterns， Dunhuang flying apsaras， traditional dragon patterns and so on to revive traditional clothing in a brandnew style. Some focused on the society at present， trying to make their own voices heard on hot topics like the digital crisis， Internet celebrity culture and online social interaction， while some paid attention to social groups， depicting the world from the perspective of city builders， urban wanderers， and workerswhile others concerned themselves with nature， to explore the symbiotic relationship between nature and humans by depicting sceneries of small towns in Southern China and urban landscapes.