“I can see my brand being a bridge between the East and West,” said Shuting Qiu ahead of her spring 2024 show. Set in the gardens of Museo Diocesano, under a warming sun that made her clothes pop, the designer sent ready-to-wear mixed with beachwear and bathing suits down the runway. With inspiration coming from her trip to the island of Tenerife in Spain last April, the collection featured lots of new horizons for Qiu. Acting as the main references were plants and huge flowers she discovered while traveling, as well as landscapes and animals.
Qiu felt the need to try something new and fresh, hence the swimwear that accompanied a few other first-timers: sea stars appeared as a new pattern; black and white combinations closed the show. Nevertheless, when asked what the strongest look was, Qiu chose a jacquard blazer featuring embroidered florals and plants with different shades of green, blue and red on a white canvas. It perfectly showed off her label’s craftsmanship.
Hangzhou, Qiu’s home town in China, remains an important point of convergence for the designer’s collections, as a source of materials like silk and for the local artisans who do the embroidery. Sustainability is also an important topic in Qiu’s fashion, so she chose to bring recycled denim trousers into the collection. “Fashion is a good way for me to express myself and comment on what happens around me,” she said, encouraging new generations to engage on the matter.
With an ongoing collaboration with Ugg boots from last season, hand-painted versions of the chunky shoe reappeared on the runway, depicting panoramas, sea animals and flower combinations. “When I was young I started painting; it’s been a huge epiphany medium for me ever since,” said Qiu. Those same visions informed beauty looks as well, with powerful makeup as if the models’ eyes were blooming or coming alive.
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