Spotlight on Asian designers Shanghai fashion week might be over, but Asian brands are just warming up

Shanghai fashion week. How about that? It was mad, it was loud, it was another thousand-mile-an-hour whirlwind of showrooms, buy appointments and runway presentations. This season, more than ever, the lines between buyer, customer and brand were blurred. You could be forgiven for asking which one was which. And even, why does it matter?

As the industry continues to feel its way into the new world of retail, we took great pleasure in setting aside show notes, instead taking the time to slow down and rediscover why we love Asian designers – for their spirit, their vision, their restraint and equally their abandon – and appreciate how much we can expect from them in the coming months, whether they show out of Shanghai or not.

We’re in no hurry to exalt the next new brand. Rather, we’re here to shine the quiet spotlight on Asian design as a whole, as it continues to unfurl and develop. Our curation of local designers is testament to Asia’s evolving creative scene with the likes of Ziggy Chen and Shushu/Tong, Ms Min and Xiao Li leading the way. But for now, slow down and take the time to get a little closer to a handful of Asian labels doing something worth more than a blurry Instagram shot. After all, what’s the rush?

Ever since Angel Chen was marked as a finalist in our 2015 Creative Call Out programme – an annual Lane Crawford search to celebrate the best talent across creative industries – she’s been busy making waves beyond Asian shores. Across men’s and womenswear, we’ve long been backing the brand’s edgy fusion of contemporary streetwear and free-spirited eccentricity, and nothing has changed. Expect riotous colour, strong silhouettes and a touch of pirate-inspired reverence for the coming season.

From the Central Saint Martins’ graduate came a robust debut collection at Shanghai Fashion Week. Ma is a designer we’ve been watching for a while, and one that we’ve been proud to champion since his student days. Watching his capacious skirts and crop-cut tops trail the runway in gloriously happy hues, the mood was upbeat and fresh. This was clothing made for a millennial generation but with a deft touch that belies the age of its creator.

A clean palette and streamlined silhouettes are the mainstays of Beijing-based brand Sans Titre. Designers Xu Jia Zheng and Jumbo Tsui prove their innate mastery of fabric with a collection wrapped in precision and conscious sophistication. The trousers, overcoats and concisely-cut cover-ups have already caught our eye – they’re the perfect antidote to the previous season’s ubiquitous run of streetwear apparel and we suspect it won’t take long for them to find favour with an international audience when 2019 arrives.

This London-based Chinese designer is making the most of an east-meets-west aesthetic to mould his brand’s DNA. Yang is a graduate of London’s Central Saint Martins, and thrives in working with unique materials – like rubber – as well as more traditional cotton and linen. Colour, proportion and an elevated yet contemporary elegance pervades his designs, which look to a fine balance of modernity and classicism in their construction.

Maiko ‘Mame’ Kurogouchi is a Japanese designer who trained at Tokyo’s prestigious Bunka fashion institution before going on to spend three years working at the Issey Miyake studio. Her deference to sourcing archival and traditional Japanese fabrics for her sweeping designs is what makes her stand out. With exemplary execution in cut and silhouette, Mame Kurogouchi is one to watch.