Wendy Yu. Portrait by Jonathan Glynn-Smith

Wendy Yu – entrepreneur, investor, cultural ambassador, fashion devotee, and frequent flyer between Shanghai, Hong Kong, London and New York – is taking the word ‘global’ to a whole new level, as Elisa Anniss discovers when they meet

Instagram can be hugely revealing about the people who use it, though rarely will you get the fullest picture of any of them. With her 1,913 posts and the 94.1K followers of her Instagram account, @Wendyyu_official, it still paints only a partial picture of this remarkable young woman, who is the founder and CEO of Yu Capital, a major Chinese investor in fashion and technology, an entrepreneur and a philanthropist.

Nevertheless, snaps of Wendy Yu with Giambattista Valli, Thom Browne and Charlotte Olympia do reveal her stellar fashion credentials. There are the images of the Met Ball in New York and of a dinner for her friend Mary Katrantzou, co-hosted with Lord Rothschild at Waddesdon Manor. Instagram also tells us that she appears to be something of a collector of evening gowns. Indeed, the rare snap of her in trousers raises an obvious question. “I love both, to be honest,” she darts back, when challenged. “I’m very spontaneous. Sometimes I love things that are dreamy, crazy and imaginative. At other times I just like very simple things. I love to be a chameleon, it really depends on my mood.”

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This morning she’s flown in from Hong Kong. For the flight, she wore head-to-toe Alaïa with a yellow Mary Katrantzou fur. It’s typical of what she wears on planes – Alaïa or a kaftan from Oscar de la Renta paired with flat shoes. “All super comfy so I can sleep easily.” Last month she flew every two or three days. Shanghai is her main base, but Hong Kong, London and New York, are all places where Yu regularly spends time. “New York more now because next year we’re launching an exciting project there,” she ventures, but that’s all she’ll give on the details. Still, Shanghai is where she has a home and where her parents’ live – Yu is heir to her family’s business, the Mengtian Group, China’s leading wooden door manufacturer.

It takes sitting down and talking to this young entrepreneur and philanthropist to see that dressing up and accumulating possessions isn’t really what drives her. Her enquiring mind and the way she lights up, crackling with enthusiasm and talking nineteen to the dozen when discussing her many passions, leaves a lasting impression. It’s certainly something that Instagram is unable to convey. Fashion, disruptive technology, the arts, China and being a Sino- Western bridge connecting people, are just some of the subjects she tackles with energy.

“Wendy is passionate about London designers and entrepreneurs and has definitely made a positive impact by supporting some of the best talent out there. We need more people like her,” enthuses José Neves, the fashion-tech businessman who founded Farfetch, and husband of Daniela Cecilio Neves, in whose business Yu was an angel investor. Undoubtedly, it was Yu’s inquisitiveness that brought her to England in the first place. This involved spending time at school in Somerset, in the English countryside where she got a taste of the British boarding school system as well as meeting other, mostly non-Chinese pupils. Next, she went on to complete a degree in fashion management at the London College of Fashion with a stint in between interning at Vogue China. She has also completed executive business programmes at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, interned for a family office in the Middle East and has spent time working for Mengtian. “Truth be told, while education is important, it’s not until you do internships and start working that you really learn about business,” she says.

Wendy Yu and Caroline Rush, Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council, co-hosted breakfast for Vogue China’s Editor-in-Chief Angelica Cheung

Today, Yu is the youngest member of the Fashion Trust, a British Fashion Council charity, and a founding member of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Young Patrons’ Circle. Even though she herself doesn’t use the word ‘anglophile’, with her love of Harrods – “I still vividly remember the first time I went [there]. It really ignited my passion for fashion” – and her appreciation of British life beyond London – “I love the town of Taunton, and Devon is beautiful, too”– it’s a moniker that fits.

Read more: Geoffrey Kent on finding new places in a well-travelled world

In 2015, Yu founded the investment vehicle Yu Capital and in January 2018, Yu Capital became Yu Holdings. Yu Holdings is a platform created to unite the worlds of strategic investment, technology, philanthropy, arts and culture and to reinforce business and cultural ties between China and the rest of the world.

“The evolution of Yu Capital into Yu Holdings was a strategic decision to consolidate my investment activities with my cultural and fashion projects, all with the end goal of bridging the economic and cultural gap between China and the rest of the world, a mission that drives every decision Yu Holdings makes,” says Yu. The investment vehicle is divided into three main areas of interest: Yu Capital, Yu Fashion and Yu Culture. Yu Capital, the investment arm of Yu Holdings, is focused on strategic investment in global technology, lifestyle and fashion businesses that show high potential for growth in a global market.

Yu’s two technology investments are Didi Chuxing (for more information see end of article), the largest taxi-hailing firm in China, valued at US$35 billion and whose other investors include Apple, Alibaba and Tencent, and Tujia.com. This Chinese online marketplace and hospitality service enables people to lease or rent short-term lodging, something like Airbnb (see end of article).

“Because Didi and Tujia are both multi-billion-dollar companies, they have very big and powerful investors. I’m involved financially rather than strategically,” she notes. “I’m generally less involved with technology investments than with my fashion and lifestyle investments, where I look to add value and contribute to their development and growth.”

One of Yu Capital’s recent ventures, Mary Katrantzou, with her SS18 show

Earlier in 2017, Yu Capital made its first luxury fashion investment in the London-based designer brand Mary Katrantzou (see end of article) whose sought-after collections are sold in leading luxury stores around the globe. Yu confesses that before she makes the final decision on an investment she consults with her fortune master, who told her great things about Mary, prompting her to go ahead. “At the back of my mind there is always the question, is this relevant to the Chinese market?”

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Whether she proceeds with a fashion investment or not also depends on the chemistry she has with a designer as well as the company’s future potential. “With Mary, I really like her as a person as well as a business woman. Her enthusiasm is infectious and she’s hugely talented.” She was also struck by Katrantzou’s background in architecture and opportunities that lay waiting in the whole lifestyle sector.

Yu believes that past collaborations with Adidas, Moncler and Topshop have already helped Mary Katrantzou capture the attention of Chinese consumers and that there is still greater opportunity there for Katrantzou’s core brand. “We are very open to the new emerging designers and the purchasing power in China is now very strong. However, one needs to select carefully which partners in China will be the best in the long term because they all want exclusivity.” Yu can help Katrantzou navigate these complexities. “I don’t have any agenda, I only want what’s best for Mary,” she says.

The investment in Mary Katrantzou followed two made in 2015, one in ASAP54, recently re-branded Fashion Concierge, and another in the sustainable accessories brand Bottletop. Yu was drawn to Fashion Concierge by the disruptive technology it displayed at the time of its launch, whereas with Bottletop it was the idea of social investment that appealed to her. “I liked their concept and approach to sustainability,” she says. As a pioneering fashion accessories brand (founded in 2012 by Oliver Wayman and Cameron Saul, the son of Mulberry founder Roger Saul), the brand revolves around the simple idea of re-cycling the ring pulls from drinks cans – hence the name. A novel, sustainable, chainmail-like material, often with an enamel finish in a range of colours, helps to make Bottletop products, which include totes, clutches, backpacks and belts, instantly identifiable. The company also funds the Bottletop Foundation, which supports young people in Brazil, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and South Africa. “Wendy is a rare visionary and we have loved having her as part of the Bottletop family,” says Saul. “Wendy is also very strategic and has supported us with important introductions as we position the brand to launch in Asia.”

This is echoed by Daniela Cecilio Neves of Fashion Concierge: “I’ve greatly benefited from Wendy’s insights as a tech-savvy, fashion-loving individual, who can also provide me with a perspective on China,” she says.

Wendy Yu at the Women’s Opportunity Center in Rwanda

Ever since Yu took a trip to Rwanda with Brita Fernandez Schmidt, the UK executive director of the charity Women for Women International, social investment, and how similar principles could be applied to the less developed parts of China, have been at the forefront of Yu’s mind. “Brita invited me to see her work in Rwanda because that’s where they have the Women’s Opportunity Center. I’m very curious and I’ve always wanted to see different parts of the world. It was the most inspiring trip I’ve ever been on. I’m looking to potentially develop some culture-related projects with Women for Women, as Brita is keen to see rural parts of China. As a Chinese woman, I would like to explore how we could create support areas in China where there are still huge gender inequalities.”

This leads into the overarching ambition of Yu Culture, the purpose of which is to enrich China’s cultural landscape through development and exchange initiatives in film, art and media, and by working in special partnership with international cultural institutions on projects to be unveiled in 2018.

Yu is already closely involved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. “The V&A has been one of my favourite museums since my student days,” she enthuses. “They invited me to join and I said yes without hesitation.” Her role includes introducing friends from Asia as well as a young group of people from the international fashion and art world. “It’s a bridge, again,” she continues. “Introducing people comes very naturally to me. It’s win-win for everybody because they love the V&A and getting to know the industry community, and the museum loves to meet new art collectors.”

Her involvement is certainly appreciated by the museum. “As a Founding Member of the Young Patrons’ Circle, Wendy Yu has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Victoria and Albert Museum, not only contributing to the successful launch of this important initiative and its exciting programme, but also through her involvement with the Museum’s annual Summer Party and her passion and knowledge of the V&A’s fashion collection,” says a senior museum spokeswoman.

“I love to be the bridge between China and the rest of the world because I love both cultures and want to enhance the connection between the two,” continues Yu. The South China Morning Post recently described her as being both “a sounding board for British designers negotiating the labyrinthine ways of doing business in China” and China’s “unofficial ambassador for British fashion”.

Net-A-Porter, a company Yu admires because of its “great customer experience”, invited Yu to become one of its global ambassadors. In this new capacity, she is scheduled to take the former Prime Minister’s wife, Samantha Cameron, and her clothing brand Cefinn, which sells on Net-A-Porter, to China in 2018. It’s a collection she considers to be super wearable with a good price point. “I’ve been wearing her blouse with different outfits and wearing her skirts,” enthuses Yu. “I respect Samantha’s vision and I think Cefinn would be very relevant to Chinese professional ladies.”

According to Yu there are still major differences between the West and China, particularly in terms of technology. In China, she can go out carrying just a mobile phone. She explains that instead of a wallet, Chinese people use Alipay, a third-party mobile and online payment platform established in China in 2004 by the Alibaba group, or WeChat Pay, launched by Tencent.

Her insight into a world that the West is hungry to know more about, is just one of the reasons why she is so in demand in the fashion world. “Wendy’s business acumen and knowledge of the financial sector are invaluable assets to our British designers hence why her support and dedication to the BFC Fashion Trust are so invaluable,” says Caroline Rush CBE, chief executive of the British Fashion Council. Yu describes Rush as “a friend and a mentor” and is someone with whom she co-hosted a breakfast to welcome Angelica Cheung, the Vogue China editor-in-chief, to London. Yu’s involvement in the BFC Fashion Trust has also led to her meeting many designers and learning about the challenges that they face. “You find that a lot of designers are super-creative but they don’t really have that business sense. Nowadays, for a fashion brand to evolve, you have to have both creative vision and to understand the commercial world, exactly who the customers are and what they are looking for.”

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Huishan Zhang is a London-based designer in Yu’s friendship circle who is known for his classically feminine evening gowns and dresses that sell in his Mount Street flagship. Like Yu, Zhang was born in China, but left when he was still a teenager. “I’m great friends with Huishan Zhang,” Yu says. “He’s a lot of fun, we share a lot of friends and look to support each other as well, on both a personal and a business level.” According to Yu, he makes her made-to-measure dresses for her and she collects signed sketches of his designs. “Wendy has been a good friend to me,” says Zhang, who doesn’t manufacture in Italy but produces his clothes in his family’s factory in China. “She is an active entrepreneur and supporter of the fashion industry, honing in on new talent, along with great passion and a unique style.”

Portrait by Jonathan Glynn-Smith

It’s mid-afternoon and we’re coming to the end of our interview now and still there’s no sign of any jet lag or of her flagging post-photo shoot. Yu’s energy levels are high. But then they have to be, as she’s off to Lisbon next, speaking at Web Summit, which bills itself as “the largest tech conference in the world” and welcomes an extensive and diverse line up of speakers ranging from Al Gore to Suzy Menkes. Yu says she’s booked to talk on two panels, one with Caroline Rush and another with the CEO of Matchesfashion.com and Vestiairecollective.com. “It’s all come about very spontaneously and it’s a nice group of industry insiders.”

It won’t be Yu’s first foray into the speaker circuit. In June she appeared on the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Forum panel alongside a group including Yana Peel (CEO of the Serpentine Galleries) and the shoe designer Rupert Sanderson, discussing cultural and commercial partnerships in China. She has also given similar talks covering her investments and connecting with China, in Cambridge and at London Business School, as well as back in China. When asked if she ever gets nervous about speaking publicly she replies: “No, not really. Though I always prefer talking on a panel, it feels more natural. I wouldn’t say no to a glass of champagne if my nerves get the better of me!” And why not, I say.

LUX would like to thank 45 Park Lane in Mayfair, London, for the use of its exquisite Curzon Suite for the shoot of Wendy Yu by Jonathan Glynn-Smith. 45 Park Lane is the artistic sibling to The Dorchester, next door, and has a fabulous program of art events, its own curator, and its own artist in residence. dorchestercollection.com

For more information on Wendy Yu’s investment platform visit: yu-holdings.com

Mary Katrantzou

Mary Katrantzou, who won the £200,000 BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund prize in 2015, is Yu Capital’s most recent investment. One of the heavy hitters at London Fashion Week, the Greece-born designer delights the audience each season with highly original ideas brought to life using elaborate embroidery and embellishment, a mix of textiles, prints and silhouettes and an inimitable signature that shouts Mary. The London-based ready-to-wear marque was established in 2008, after the designer graduated with an MA in Fashion from Central Saint Martins. She was soon dubbed The Queen of Print by the press, a tag that recognised the enormous influence of her work in the medium. In recent years, collaborations, including capsule ranges with Longchamp, Moncler, and Adidas Originals, have helped to broaden her appeal at home and abroad, and of course in China. Mary Katrantzou doesn’t have a bricks-and-mortar store, yet, but she does sell to leading luxury stores in many countries including Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Le Bon Marché. “Wendy is an extraordinary person with a pragmatic and forward-looking vision, who is a close friend as well as an ambassador for the brand,” says Mary Katrantzou. “The most important thing for me is to be surrounded by people who understand my vision and support me in building a truly international lifestyle brand. It’s very exciting to enter our 10th anniversary with a board of incredible women advisors who are shaping the industry in their own right and will be helping us shape our future and reach our full potential.”

Tujia

The rental company has taken couch surfing to a whole new level with $300 million of investments announced in October 2017. Giving Airbnb a serious run for its money, and valued at $1.5 billion, Tujia was founded in 2011 under Tujia Online Information and Technology Company of Limited Liability. With 345 locations across China to choose from and at least 1,000 partnerships internationally, it boasts 650,000 listings and is tapping into a large affluent travelling class, revolutionizing the hospitality industry in China.

Didi Chuxing

The taxi-hailing app is China’s answer to Uber (in fact, it acquired Uber China in 2016) and is the largest such company in the world, with 200 million rides under its belt last year. The app was launched in 2012 and today has over 450m users across the Chinese continent, spanning 400 cities and a variety of services. From social ride-sharing to options including Didi Chauffeur, Didi Bus and Didi Car Rental and Hitch, its social ride-sharing branch, it has taken China by storm and has recently developed an English-language version of the app. It is also looking towards the future with groundbreaking investment into AI technology, with over $5.5 billion raised in 2017.

This article originally appeared in the LUX LOVE Issue, Spring 2018

Kate Upton at the 2017 amfAR Gala Cannes

Charity art auctions are taking off around the world, and for the best and worst of reasons, says Simon de Pury, himself the world’s leading philanthropic auctioneer

Simon de Pury

In times past, the main philanthropic efforts in the art world used to be confined to the US, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there is fiscal encouragement for individuals to make charitable donations in the US, which is not the case in Europe. And more importantly it is an integral part of the entrepreneurial educational philosophy in the US, that if you are successful, you give back.

Any successful person in any area in the US is expected to have one or two causes to which they contribute some of the fortune they have made. But over the past 10 years, things have changed. More and more wealth has been created around the world, and the art market has consequently become more global. This means I have witnessed efforts in philanthropy around the world increasing dramatically.

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It is very gratifying to see, and in many cases to be involved with, cultural institutions that organise regular fundraising events. We also see increasing numbers of organisations of friends of museums, whose main task is to raise funds for philanthropic and charitable causes. In some cases, these are to benefit the institutions themselves; and in others, funds are raised for important causes that are not adequately funded through governments.

Perhaps the ultimate art philanthropist is Maja Hoffmann, who has devoted so much energy to the new LUMA Foundation in Arles; designed by Frank Gehry, it is going to become a cultural art centre of major importance. She also funded the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles; and she is a donor to MoMA and the New Museum in New York, and the Kunsthalle in Zurich. She supports these institutions not just in financial terms, but also by putting together sophisticated programs. She is a shining example.

The amfAR 2017 Gala in Cannes

Then there is the growing area of non-cultural philanthropy, one in which the art world is becoming increasingly involved. It’s not a recent development (although it has been growing exponentially recently) . The art world was the first to mobilise in the early days of the AIDS epidemic, when Thomas Ammann, an art-dealer friend of Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn, set up amfAR, which has raised great amounts of money over the years.

What is striking about the art world is that some artists have themselves made significant donations. Damien Hirst donated a beautiful golden mammoth which Len Blavatnik bought for $16m at the amfAR auction in Cannes in 2014. It’s now at the Faena hotel on Miami Beach and something of an Instagram magnet. It also happens to be one of best works in the Damien Hirst oeuvre. Hirst is the most generous artist I know; he has donated many millions of dollars’ worth of art to various charities over the years. Tracey Emin is also immensely generous, as is Chuck Close, who never holds back in supporting causes close to his heart. There are many others, too; artists these days are solicited on a daily basis to donate works to various causes.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna at the 4th Annual Saint-Tropez Gala organised by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation in 2017

There is one lingering anomaly, at a time when we should all be highly concerned about the future of the planet: the fact that only three per cent of global charitable donations go to environmental causes. Leonardo DiCaprio is leading the way in devoting time and energy to raising awareness of the poor state of the oceans and other environmental issues, and I have had the honour of being auctioneer at the four large charity auctions he has organised in St-Tropez over the past four years.

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David Beckham arriving at the 2017 amfAR Gala

What is significant about these auctions is that they include works by artists such as Jeff Koons, Urs Fischer and George Condo, many of whom donate very substantial works. In 2016, of the 20-odd works on sale during the live auction, 15 were donated and 12 of them set new auction records. This shows that people are not simply buying art at these auctions as a charitable act – they are buying top works, which makes it sustainable and gives it extra purpose. Leonardo manages, through his status, not only to obtain top donations, but also to bring in potential purchasers from all over the world. In that tent in St-Tropez on the gala evening, there is a greater concentration of money than at the big auctions in New York.

What is increasingly extraordinary about these events is how global the audience is now. High net-worth individuals are coming from all over the world, with more and more attending from Russia, the former eastern bloc, the Middle East, China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Latin America and all over Africa. It has really become a global effort.

All of this also raises awareness, and once awareness spreads it becomes easier to raise funds. Offices that look after HNIs all now have specialists in philanthropy to advise their clients how they can help. People are getting drawn in for different reasons. Some people pay for the artworks because they just want the artwork. But increasingly individuals want to take responsibility because governments are not. One of the reasons philanthropy was initially more widespread in the US is that most institutions there depend on private donations, there being no public funding. In Europe, public budgets used to be much bigger, but with cuts, individuals have had to step in.

You can also see this with the instant mobilisation that takes place when something happens, for example the recent refugee crisis. Some artists are galvanized into action by such crises – Ai Weiwei has made a movie and marched on the streets of London together with Anish Kapoor. It’s the future.

Simon de Pury is an art auctioneer and collector and the founder of de Pury de Pury. Read more of his columns for LUX here.

Hussein Chalayan is fashion’s avant-garde experimentalist and supreme craftsman

Hussein Chalayan is high fashion’s savant and one of the most influential designers of the past two decades. He speaks to LUX about originality, art, and how celebrities are cheapening the industry

LUX: You have been involved in the world of fine art for a long time, with museum shows and the like. How connected are the worlds of art and fashion?
Hussein Chalayan: I don’t actually necessarily think that the art and the fashion world are that connected for a lot of people. In my work they were always connected, because of the nature of the ideas. But in the wider world, I feel like there are a lot of art collectors who love fashion. And then there are a lot of art publications in which fashion companies advertise, so I think it’s an economic co-dependency. But I do think that they are two separate disciplines. In my case and a few others they can merge, but often I feel that artists and designers do think differently.

LUX: In what way?
Hussein Chalayan: Fashion is a much more industrial process. The fashion world is much more about producing as much as possible, unless you do couture. I think the mindset is a bit different as well, but the biggest difference is that the kind of discourse you hear in the art world, for me, does not really exist in as serious a way as in the fashion world. There is discourse in the fashion world but it’s not as structured as the architectural world, the design world, or the art world. There are academics in fashion that really know their business. But unfortunately it’s not taken as seriously as the other disciplines, but it deserves to be.

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LUX: When you started in the fashion world, it was much less mainstream – there were no celebrities and bloggers sitting in the front rows, for example. Has the fashion world changed for better or worse?
Hussein Chalayan: I think both. The arrival of the digital era, in my view, is the biggest change. Because when we were first starting, I was in the same generation as Alexander McQueen, we were shooting at the same time in London and there was no such thing as digital media. And when digital media came, it meant we were not pigeonholed as avant-garde designers, or whatever, so easily. Because, before then, editors would be able to categorise you and use images to present you in the way they wanted. And what would then happen is that, because they would do that to attract people to their publication, all your other things that you spent hours on, like your beautiful tailoring, wouldn’t necessarily be included because you were really in the hands of the editor. Whereas now, in the digital media, everyone can see everything you do. So, that’s democratised things in a good way. On the other hand, of course, it means that the high street can copy you before you’re able to even produce your own collection, which is actually a problem. This has happened to every designer, you’re just seen as an ingredient. It cheapens what designers do. I guess the anticipation has been wiped out because of the digital era, which I think is a pity.

LUX: You’re now in London after 16 years in Paris.
Hussein Chalayan: Yes. In the past, people would skip London and go straight to Milan, and that was why we went to Paris. But now London has quite a few important houses. Yes, more people go to Paris and Milan and New York, but still, London is better than it was. And it’s just less hassle, because I don’t have to take the whole team to Paris.

Design from the Chalayan A/W collection 1998

LUX: What broad themes are inspiring you at the moment?
Hussein Chalayan: I would say that broadly I’m interested in anthropology, I’m interested in behaviour, in how different cultures perceive things. What creative people do is that they explore or propose new ways of looking at something. That’s also therapeutic, because you, the artist or the creative, are trying to solve issues or at least address issues.

LUX: What is the most interesting thing you are doing right now?
Hussein Chalayan: The most exciting thing right now for me is probably our shop, because it’s our first. We’ve had it for almost two years, and it’s opened up a whole new horizon of possibilities, because the shop is a response mechanism as well as a hub where we hold events. It’s where we get to know our clients in a bit more detail, a bit more depth.

LUX: Is this bringing people to your world who you wouldn’t naturally come across?
Hussein Chalayan: I would come across some of them, but I could never have imagined the level at which we’re now engaged with them.

LUX: Who is a typical person who wears Chalayan?
Hussein Chalayan: A lot of people from the art world. And a lot of people from the architecture world, as well. But all walks of life, really.

LUX: Is there a balance that you have to hold between creativity and saleability?
Hussein Chalayan: Definitely. I’ve learned a lot more in the past ten years about that, tried to work very closely with our sales team, whoever we’re working with at the time, and merchandising.

Design from Chalayan’s A/W collection 2017

LUX: Wearable tech is something that you’ve been involved with for a long time. Is it the future, or is it overplayed?
Hussein Chalayan: I have a slight problem with the whole issue. I have tried to use it more poetically. And the minute that it becomes like something where it measures your heartbeat, or it does just one thing only, I find it gets banal. There’s a lot of gimmickry around it as well, and I’m just not convinced by it.

LUX: Do you ever wish you’d been more commercial?
Hussein Chalayan: The thing is, I don’t really know what commercial means anymore. I mean, if you can wear something, it’s commercial. But I think that 95 per cent of everything we did was always wearable from the beginning but because people saw your experimental work, they perceived you as doing only that, but actually, I wasn’t. And I think that this applies to a lot of designers, that you can make show pieces that are the pinnacle of your idea for that season, but 99 per cent of what you did was actually the clothes one can really wear. But then, newspapers only photograph those show pieces, season after another, and you are then projected as this avant-garde designer that doesn’t do anything else. As I mentioned, in the pre-digital era, it was completely like that. And then in the post-digital era, it’s almost like we had to restart, because people were finally seeing that we can make clothes that you can really wear. So I’d say that a big part of our collection is commercial, but I don’t like that word; I’d say it is wearable more than commercial. I think the word ‘commercial’ cheapens it.

Read more: 6 questions with Italian womenswear designer Alessandra Rich

LUX: Are there too many designers and labels around these days?
Hussein Chalayan: I think there are, but I also think it’s arrogant for another designer to say that. But it’s true. There are too many designers, and there’s too much product. I think that you could have a (design) house but you could decide to base it on a category, you can decide that you’re good at knitwear, or you’re good at prints, and that’s your house. There are too many designers that are doing everything. If you were to become a designer now, I would strongly advise you to be a specialist in some area.

LUX: Is London important to you?
Hussein Chalayan: We’re lucky living in a place like London because I feel like it’s really a state, I call it the state of London. It’s not really a city, it’s a country. People in London are a lot more accepting of foreigners. If you go outside London, it’s white, meaning culturally white, it’s, you know… Brexit.

Design from Chalayan’s A/W collection 2017

LUX: What is your view on the fashion industry in general, right now?
Hussein Chalayan: The biggest issue we have is that fashion has just got so nepotistic and is so much about the big conglomerates. It’s becoming a sort of bullshit industry really, in that it’s no longer about the creativity… it’s almost about who you are associated with, if you belong to a particular group, or if you are a pop star. It’s awful that our industry has allowed this to happen. It’s allowed this to happen because they’re living with too much anxiety. It’s killing independent designers and actually killing creativity, as well. So, I feel like we’re in quite a terrible state really, right now, and every single fashion person you speak to would agree with this, more or less. But then, collectively, they don’t do anything about it. So, I find it peculiar.

LUX: What do you think of celebrities who launch their own collections?
Hussein Chalayan: There’s room for celebrity fashion, but I would like it to be seen as a separate category and I don’t think that should be mixed up with the years of work that we’ve been doing and then put in the same space. Department stores put you next to a rapper’s collection, and I just think it’s too bizarre. That ‘anything goes’ mentality in fashion cheapens our industry. A celebrity could have impeccable taste, and they could be really good curators, and they can employ really good designers and could really get something going with the energy and attitude that is associated with them. But I just think that that’s a new feel, that’s another category. Such labels with massive Instagram followings actually haven’t got anything to do with design, it’s more to do with the personality of the person designing it.

LUX: Who do you admire most among designers?
Hussein Chalayan: I think that, and I’m not saying this necessarily because of the design content, but I love the way that Azzedine Alaïa has pursued his career, because his work is not really about the flavour of the month, it’s very specific. I admire designers who do their own thing in their own way

chalayan.com

Alessandra Rich ready-to-wear SS18 collection

Alessandra Rich

Alessandra Rich is the quintessential contemporary designer. Born in Italy, based in London and Milan, and showing in Paris, her designs bring joy and flair to womenswear. She is also noted for the meticulousness of her sourcing and her construction quality. LUX Editor-at-Large Gauhar Kapparova speaks to the designer.

1. Describe us the woman you design for. Who is the Alessandra Rich woman?

She is an independent woman, self-confident, clever and ironic. She loves to have fun with fashion and to be the woman that everyone looks at.

2. What are the challenges of a small independent fashion designer today?

My challenge is to be contemporary, I avoid being nostalgic or too “classic”, I want my brand to be unexpected. It’s difficult to compete against what everybody thinks fashion is, the size of the brand doesn’t matter.

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3. Has the increased desire for ready-to-wear collections changed your designs?

All my collections are ready-to-wear, I want women to have fun wearing my pieces, during the day and at night.

Alessandra Rich ready-to-wear SS18 collection

4. Your designs are chic, clever and quirky. How do you give it that timeless elegance?

My design comes from a personal research and from my interest in the contemporary. I consider fashion a language, so I just put together the right words.

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5. Do you design through your emotions or follow a formula?

It’s a mixture of emotions and rules, because every idea has to fit into a shape. It’s why in my last collection you can find formal jackets worn with hot pants or floral pleated dresses and sheer laces. It’s always a matter of balance.

6. What’s ahead for your brand? Do you have plans or are you living in the moment?

I have a vision that my business will grow, with a larger team and a larger view. I’m interested in creating a kind of factory, a place to be.

alessandrarich.com