Lawrence Xu, A Fashion Designer, Has A Fashion Agreement With Guizhou

In the Guizhou chapter of CCTV's "China in Intangible Cultural Heritage", Hong Kong model Li Yanan made a stunning appearance in golden yellow costumes made by Miao embroidery, which was called "top art" by the audience.

This golden silk Miao embroidery was designed by internationally renowned fashion designer Lawrence Xu and produced by Shi Chuanying, the representative inheritor of Miao embroidery of Qiandongnan prefecture level intangible cultural heritage project, and once appeared on the stage of International Fashion Week. Lawrence Xu said that the innovation of this dress is the use of gold thread, which is unprecedented in the history of Miao embroidery.

Originated from the awe of nature

Lawrence Xu was chosen by his teacher, French famous fashion designer and architect Francis de Loklang. His Chinese name is Xu Jianshu. He was born in a family with rich artistic atmosphere in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province. His mother is an actor of Lv Opera. Since childhood, he has been used to seeing exaggerated stage shapes and gorgeous stage costumes in the troupe with his mother. As an architectural designer, his father taught him spatial structure thinking. Growing up in the pear garden, he preferred clothes and often sewed various clothes for clay figurines. When he was in college, he chose his favorite major of fashion design and embarked on a professional path.

Deeply nourished by Chinese culture, Lawrence Xu always reminds himself that he should lay a solid foundation, learn traditional culture well, and then make innovations. With the long-term accumulation of traditional culture, the artistic conception of poetry naturally integrates into his clothes. He said, "If there is any difference between the clothes I design and those of others, it is that I have deeply rooted in China's 5000 year history and traditional culture, which is my greatest strength and advantage."

At the recording site of CCTV's "China in Intangible Cultural Heritage", when pieces of Miao embroidery were displayed in the mountains of Guizhou, the CCTV host Long Yang exclaimed that such fashionable and grand clothes should have no sense of discord when they appeared in the mountains.

Lawrence Xuze, who has his own standard for fashion, said that these Miao Embroidery Gaoding were grown in the mountains of Guizhou. The butterfly and other elements used in Miao Embroidery are all in awe of nature.

Miao Embroidery Gaoding catwalk show

The first collision between Lawrence Xu and Guizhou culture dates back to the stage of 2017 Paris High Custom Fashion Week. Lawrence Xu integrated Anshun's Miao embroidery and batik into his work "Mountain Jiangnan" show.

At the scene of the grand show, when the music sounded, the models, accompanied by the solemn ceremony of the ancient East, rushed out of the show wearing the high-level customized dresses of "Mountains and Rivers Series in the South of the Yangtze River". The dresses of "Mountains and Rivers Series" full of Chinese landscape splash ink culture showed the soul and quality of Chinese aesthetic creativity.

Lawrence Xu's design not only inherits the elements of the "national treasure brocade" in previous seasons, but also adds more rich and sophisticated handicrafts - Miao embroidery and batik. When the music suddenly becomes relaxed, flexible, graceful and beautiful, the audience seems to enter the world of the Miao Dong Village. Listen, the summer wind is blowing on the Yunnan Guizhou Plateau. The birds chirp, calm down, as if you can hear the voice of flowers. Miao Embroidery batik and cloud brocade, ink and wash image and other elements complement each other. Lawrence Xu's beautiful artistic conception in his mind is amazing through clothing.

It subverts the profound and magnificent oriental aesthetics displayed in the previous two shows. "Jiangnan in the mountains" has been cleaned up, and has returned to the nature from the extreme prosperity. It has uncovered the most quintessence of hermit feelings in Chinese classical culture without trace, outlined the leisurely look of being open in the mountains and forests, and brought the artistic shock of "Chinese customization" to the hearts of people.

"When I first designed this show, there was no ethnic minority element. At that time, my main focus was on the concept of freehand brushwork of landscapes like Li Keran and Zhang Daqian." Lawrence Xu said that when he designed more than half of the show, he suddenly had the opportunity to contact with ethnic minority cultures and found Guizhou's landscapes and ethnic cultural elements, It is the Chinese style you really want. So we changed the direction, re integrated and refined the elements of Guizhou, and finally formed the effect of "Jiangnan in the mountains".

With only four or five months to go before the big show, Lawrence Xu and his team are still looking for inspiration in Guizhou. In the ancient town of Tianlong Tunpu, Pingba District, Anshun, he saw that the local people were still wearing ancient clothes, hairpins and walking shakes.

Soon after, the success of Daxiu strengthened Lawrence Xu's confidence in national culture, and he also deeply realized the power of the saying "national is the world". He also had the idea of bringing the whole Miao village and Guizhou to the catwalk.

　　 Let Miao Embroidery Go Global

In the process of communicating with local old craftsmen, Lawrence Xu was deeply attracted by Miao embroidery and batik, changing the blue and white batik tradition. Anshun's batik is colorful. It uses a variety of plant dyes combined with indigo to form a sharp contrast of colors, with an embroidery like effect. These made Lawrence Xu feel "ignorant". It turns out that batik is not only blue and white, it can be colorful. He is sensitive to the smell of advanced customization: the transmission of culture, the protection of skills, and the promotion of popularity.

This year, Lawrence Xu, in order to complete a high definition of Miao embroidery, specially brought Shi Chuanying, a representative inheritor of Miao embroidery, a state-level intangible cultural heritage project in Qiandongnan. Shi Chuanying successively tried to embroider with silk threads of various colors, but was denied because he could not achieve the effect.

Lawrence Xu finally chose gold silk embroidery, which made Shi Chuanying dare not answer Lawrence Xu's phone call. Shi Chuanying said that this material is not suitable for Miao embroidery. Because of the material, it is too difficult to embroider with gold thread.

"Gold thread embroidery has never been used in traditional Miao embroidery." But in Lawrence Xu's opinion, gold thread Miao embroidery is a bold attempt, just like fashion. Sometimes fashion is caused by its irrationality. Because of some conflicts and mistakes, a popular trend, or a kind of inheritance and development of skills, has emerged.

Lawrence Xu designed this high-level customized dress with gold silk and Miao embroidery, which took nearly 1000 hours. When he saw the final product on the international stage, Shi Chuanying shed tears happily.

"I hope my works are not only gorgeous, which can make the world amazing clothes, but also can have a quiet mind to listen to those quiet and beautiful scenery in the mountains and forests, and then integrate them into the design." Lawrence Xu said that Miao embroidery should go from the mountains to the world, which is the designer's responsibility and responsibility, and constantly bring out the new and integrate into life, Only by transforming ancient things into fashion can Miao embroidery go global.

Article, editor/Zhao Xiangkang, reporter of Guizhou Daily Tianyan News

(Source: Guizhou Daily Tianyan News)