It’s common knowledge that designers often hire stylists to assemble the looks in their shows. The stylist functions as a second pair of eyes, lending their vision to the collection and putting items together that the designer might not have considered. Shuting Qiu operates differently: She styled every single look in her spring 2022 show in Shanghai, because she designed them as full, complete looks from the outset.
The unexpected clash of colors and prints is Qiu’s calling card, so it’s easy to understand why she doesn’t design item by item; she doesn’t picture her clothes being worn any other way. If that sounds rigid, the results have a haphazard, freewheeling vibe, suggesting you can certainly wear her clothes myriad ways—mixed with your own favorite prints, or something as simple as jeans.
Her process begins with collages, often a mash-up of her own paintings, art references found online, photos, and books. She then figures out her colors, prints, and embellishments and sketches the entire look from head to toe. For spring, that manifested in multi-patterned jackets over diaphanous floral dresses and plaid tights; abstract body stockings under short suits and crochet bras; bouclé minis over color-blocked knits and neon tights; and coats patchworked in varying florals, pinstripes, and bits of embroidery.
Suffice it to say, these aren’t looks for blending in. Qiu’s singular approach has helped her standout in Shanghai’s ever-more-crowded emerging designer market; she’s been a finalist in multiple fashion prizes and counts Joyce, Labelhood, Browns, and Net-a-Porter as stockists. Even more impressive is that she only graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 2019; most of her career has taken place in the pandemic.
In another designer’s hands, clashing prints and colors might seem limiting; eventually, doesn’t your aesthetic have to evolve? But Qiu’s commitment to painting and drawing every single floral and stripe (60% of which are printed on deadstock fabrics) brings a kind of emotion that’s missing from perfect, mass-produced prints. As the brand grows, her main challenge—as is the case for most young designers—will be in continuing to refine her tailoring and construction.
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