Why Are Chinese Designers Favored By CFDA? (Chart)

Jason Wu

CFDA (American Fashion Designers Association) award is known as the "Oscar" in the fashion industry. Every year, American designers will be honors in this award, and fashion people will also gather for this grand prize.

Soon after the fashion party ended in 2010, all the awards came to the surface: Marc Jacobs won the annual best costume design award; the best men's wear design award of the year was awarded by the designers of Rag &Bone, David Neville and Marcus Wainwrigh; Richard Chai was awarded SWAROVSKI's most successful men's wear designer Award; Alexander was awarded the SWAROVSKI Accessories Designer Award; SWAROVSKI's most potential women's Designer Award was awarded by the fashion genius; she won the lifetime achievement award; the designer was awarded the international Designer Award; the talented designer who had passed away was awarded the special award.

Alexander Wang

Among the several awards, Chinese American designers still have certain advantages, and this advantage has shown signs since 2005. In those days, Vera Wang took the lead in winning the best Designer Award, the best newcomer was Derek Lam; in 2007, Philip Lim won the best new person Award; in 2009, Anna Sui won the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Alexander Wang won the Best Newcomer Award.

In the past few years, CFDA has been favored by Chinese American designers, making them a unique landscape at the annual awards ceremony.

The fashion houses of Paris, Milan, London and New York each have their own characteristics.

The fashion week in Milan and London is quite conservative. They prefer the local design to the acceptance of the foreign designers. Paris and New York are relatively "close to the people". But Paris is more like a dream factory. It is a romantic sentiment and fashion creativity. Japanese, British and Belgian designers are famous through the Paris fashion week, but Chinese designers rarely succeed.

New York fashion week has always been famous for its commercial character. This seems to be out of fashion compared with Paris fashion week and Milan fashion week. It is precisely this point that makes New York produce many real "stars", including many successful Chinese designers coming from here.

Philip Lim

The United States is a big consumer of clothing. According to statistics, the consumption growth of Americans on clothing is faster than overall consumption growth. The high income class around 35 years old is the main consumer of clothing.

New Yorkers are not as romantic as Parisians or Londoners. What they pursue is real wear and comfort. The DUCKIE BROWN brand creator Steven Cox and Daniel Silver have a deep understanding of this.

They say that if they want to survive in New York, they must ensure that no matter what style they design, first of all, they must consider its practicality. Only such fashion can ensure good business performance.

Steven Cox has been working in New York for more than ten years, and has worked for RALPH LAUREN, TOMMY HILFIGER and other brands. He said: "my idea is to make the fashion show look more natural. The sales environment in the United States means that the fashion I design is more practical and commercialized, but if I were in the UK, maybe I would design three leg pants."

In a word, the difference between design style and market evaluation system between New York and London is pointed out.

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Vera Wang

In the face of this pragmatic style, Chinese American designers have also shown a pragmatic attitude. Instead of writing about Chinese style, they have chosen a complete American style.

Their works have something in common: elegance, elegance, fashion and real wear, which are prerequisites for selling clothes.

At the same time, they have their own distinctive characteristics.

The women like to buy her account most; the wedding dress and dress designed by Vera Wang are noble, graceful and romantic. Their dress is one of the choices of the stars when participating in the red carpet; the two designers who know how to control the cost are very well integrated with the design and business. The design of Philip Lim is simple and graceful, which can well reflect the leisurely beauty of the American girl; the clothes of the Derek's are clean and refreshing, without exaggeration and decoration, modern sense is strong; and the breakthroughs in the integration of rock and sportswear, the works are deeply loved by the young people; Anna Sui is good at mix and match wind. His works are full of retro flavor and artistic temperament.

Derek Lam

Pragmatic design, coupled with the huge market in the United States, is the two key factor for the success of Chinese American designers, and the two are indispensable.

Pragmatically, Chinese designers in New York got flowers and applause, and they also got bread and vegetables.

Unlike in Europe, there will be a design star who applauded and starved.

The third factor for the success of Chinese designers is the price of the people.

American pragmatism is reflected in the style of dress, and it is also reflected in the price of the selected garments.

In particular, the harsh economic environment in recent years has made luxury a shameful thing.

The products of many big international brands are not only expensive, but also very low in utilization.

Most Chinese American designers solve these two problems very well: quality is the best and price second rate is their killer.

Anna Sui

However, too much practical design style has been questioned by consumers at the same time. Some fashion critics have pointed out that the design of Chinese American designers has not made any sense of innovation. The New York Times Cathy Horyn criticized Alexander Wang for presenting "old hat" on the T platform, and lamented that this is the sign of the disappearance of the "trend"; for Jason Wu, she even said with no interest: "in my memory, no impression will be left."

No one is perfect. For designers, the acceptance of the market seems to be more important than the innovative design style. Maybe this is the reason why Chinese designers choose to realize their self worth in New York.

Most importantly, their efforts have been recognized by the fashion industry in New York and have been favored by the Oscar CFDA prize in the fashion industry.