Stone bridges, bustling street markets, lantern-lit pathways and a languid canal are some of the images that pop up when I google Jiangsu, the quaint little province where Cheney Chan grew up. Chan takes me on a trip down memory lane where we meet his grandfather who was once the director of a small cultural centre. This is where Chen learnt to appreciate art. “I don’t remember admiring clothes, it was always art. I didn’t even pick out my own clothes back then. It was my mum who shopped for me well into my teens.” says the designer fondly, reminiscing the twists that steered him into a career in fashion. “My family wanted me to be a pilot, in the army!”
Chan established his brand in 2012, seamlessly blending classical Chinese elements that he had grown to love as a child into beautiful, contemporary designs. In June this year, he presented his latest collection, ‘Dream in Bloom’, on the Paris Haute Couture Fall/ Winter 2024 runway. The collection was inspired by 12 characteristics from classical Chinese stories. Chan wielded flowers like a painter’s brush to portray the aspirations of these women with different personalities.
When Chan begins to peel back the layers of designing the collection, there’s a sense of fervour that’s palpable. At one point he tells me “Western corsets are very outgoing,” and we wonder if something is lost in translation but the word he reached for was apt because he goes on to describe the corsets he designs as introverted. “You know we use the word love very rarely. We’d rather say this flower is beautiful than say I love this flower.” I’m struck at the delicateness of this analogy only proving how well Chan has distilled the essence of a subtle, poetic culture and translated fashion into a language in itself.
Chan is an avid collector of books, especially those on contemporary art and vintage ephemera ranging from furniture to opera. This is usually where each collection begins. Somewhere between the pages and stories. ‘Dream in Bloom’ was inspired by a series of books on Chinese Kunqu opera. “When I read about the young lady who was not allowed to love freely what came to my mind was the colour pink, a tender and fragile flower, and the material had to be silk.” Creating a collection takes anywhere from six months to a year. His design themes often stem from his readings, where he analyses backgrounds and destinies. “Happiness in my design is interpreted with a lot of flowers, whereas tragic lives inspire floating water-like elements.” There is more to these interpretations and how they lend themselves to the beholder. The butterfly design for instance hints at transformation and rebirth. Wearing it or even watching it, one can deeply experience a kind of fluidity. Some designs reveal their nuances only at specific angles, for instance his interpretation of corsets, where the soft pleats and shapes become visible only at a 45-degree angle. “It is extremely elegant when viewed from the side. It embodies an implicit oriental beauty.”
Chan’s exaggerated silhouettes make each piece a wearable sculpture. It is then no surprise that his favourite material is porcelain. It has inspired his reinterpretation of the traditional corset, Feng Ya Qi. “I love to work with porcelain. I am not good at it but I enjoy making porcelain by myself. Most of the time it breaks but even that inspires me, the falling motions and shapes.” Porcelain is such an integral part of his creative identity that even his design process often mimics porcelain making, where circular textures formed at high speed inspire fabric layers. For Chan, the idea that shapes can be formed by repeated movements illustrates the intersection of minimalism and detailing.
“I’m obsessed with fashion shows from the ‘90s and yearn for a sense of drama that we associate with the decade,” says the designer. Perhaps that is also the origin for Chan’s fascination with headdresses. His velvet flower headdresses and their lifelike blooms capture the delicate artistry of traditional Chinese craftsmanship. Porcelain headpieces, bridging thousands of years of Chinese artistry, merge history with contemporary elegance. Meanwhile, feather headdresses, once symbols of nobility, are reimagined through Chan’s contemporary lens.
A hearty laughter precedes our discussion on stereotypes. “Sometimes I feel the west still associates us with chopsticks in hair buns and golden dragons. Besides, you know not everyone can wear dragons as a motif, only the emperors can. And there are rules, even the thread used has to be golden,” he explains. Finding craftsmen willing to help break these stereotypes and traditions is even more challenging. “Some don’t even want to try a new thread!,” he says, highlighting the resistance to innovation. Driven by curiosity, he’s assembled a twenty-member team, dedicated to pushing these boundaries.
Chan isn’t too fond of the term ‘shows’. He prefers performances—each brought alive through its own set of traditional music, movements, props and gestures. These don’t just turn heads, but command presence, undivided and magnetic, transforming the runway into a theatre of exquisite, avant-garde storytelling.
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