From checking in on her recent Paris Fashion Week debut, to rehashing formative college days, we’re catching up with the freedom-driven designer on fashion at its finest. Here is Feng Chen Wang in her most formidable era.

Firstly, where in the world are you right now and what has your last week entailed (in both work and life)?

I’ve just returned to Shanghai this week after spending four months at our studio in London, off the back of Paris Fashion Week in June. It felt like a homecoming; returning to London, re-connecting with our global community physically, finding inspiration from new and old places and visiting my alma mater. I will now be heavily involved in the design process ahead of our Paris Fashion Week show in January.

The former Instagram bio for Feng Chen Wang reads: “Opposites co-existing through dreams, visions and reality.” What does this sentiment mean for you in the context of your designs? Please translate it for us.

That line sums up our Spring Summer 22 collection, which was inspired by the blurring of opposites that shouldn’t, but do co-exist harmoniously together – the perfect fusion of the yin and the yang. The phoenix print also reiterates the breaking down of gender binary, of structures holding us back, of being able to break free.

In what ways does Chinese culture and your heritage play a role in Feng Chen Wang’s garment construction (or deconstruction)?

I think my design language has always reflected my life experiences and inspiration, growing up in China, moving to London, New York, among other cities and countries and meeting different people. There is an introspective space for delineating traditional Chinese artisanship with non-gender binary and disruptive designs. I would say my garments reflect the different pieces and layers of my perspective and life, breaking through boundaries and norms, being reconstructed and restructured through my design language.

Where can we find you when you’re recalibrating or recharging creative energy?

You can find me at museums, galleries and exhibitions across Europe, and street markets and shops which I enjoy looking at people and speaking with them. In China, I tend to explore natural places, from mountains to villages across countryside.

Once your garments go out into the world and wider wardrobes, they’re open to the interpretation and styling sensibilities of the wearer? What do you hope Feng Chen Wang radiates on the street, or at an event, or in the office? What energy or aesthetic do you think it serves no matter where (or by whom) it is worn?

I’ve always visualised freedom with my garments and those wearing them, my garments are not limited by age or gender. I would imagine those who wear Feng Chen Wang to be able to find confidence in expressing their own style and personality. You can style them in streetwear, luxury, menswear, womenswear, new seasons and old, all of the above.

What materials or textures are you working with right now? How are they sourced and are they sustainable?

Our bamboo bags uses bamboo from my hometown in Fujian Province. Bamboo is a highly sustainable plant that requires no pesticides or chemicals to harvest, it self-regenerates from its own roots and doesn’t need to be replanted, minimising water consumption and labour.

Our Rework collection up-cycles past Feng Chen Wang garments and fabrics and combines the concept of recycle and redesign to reduce our impact on the environment. We also uses end of line/dead stock fabric from mills in some of our collections.

Selected fabric from our collection uses ‘Lanyinhuabu’ a plant-based starch resist dye, mixing soya paste, lime chalk and natural indigo dye called ‘Dian Qing Ran’ which is extracted from locally-grown plants.

This technique is unique to China’s Fujian Provence and is now only practiced by a few elderly artisans. Our aim is to continue such traditional craftsmanship for generations to come.