Fashion
Thursday, 25 June 2009 07:06
Written by Casey Chan

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The Fashion Week Chronicles is Urbanatomy's series of interviews with the designers on show at the Shanghai Fashion Week last month.

This time around, Jenny Ji...

What’s the inspiration behind your new collection?
It’s called Chinese gods. Normally you see lots of families, especially in the countryside, printing red things on dolls. It’s a traditional thing that’s come from the Tang Dynasty. Every family ties a kind of red tag onto a doll and that protects the whole family. We’ve changed it, we’ve kept the tradition but we’ve changed the ugly man into a very cute, lovely girl. The main inspiration I actually got from my friend, who is a Taiwanese artist. He did a cartoon drawing for me, with a cute little girl who’s holding a knife, a traditional kind of knife, a very big one. So with this drawing I developed many different kinds of design. We also printed it onto all different kinds of fabric, like chiffon and organic cotton to create different kinds of look. I think that’s adorable, so lots of people like the little girl.

You studied economics at university, when did you realize that you wanted to pursue fashion as a career?  Were your family and friends supportive of your decision?
I was in college in 1995, and in China around 1990/95 there weren’t so many fashion designers, so my parents didn’t think I would find a job. Being an artist can be a job to survive. But also, in another way, they were always thinking, if you’re not a good student, if you’re not good at math or English then you’re better off choosing to be an artist and going to art school, where they don’t do tests and exams in math and English. So if you’re only good at drawing you could very easily get into art college in China at the time. But I was quite good at the other tests so my parents and teachers were thinking ‘why don’t you continue with the economics instead of becoming an artist’. They thought there would be a better future for me. So I finished my bachelor’s degree, but I still felt I didn’t like it, because I studied drawing when I was a kid and I even carried on drawing when I was at college. So in my last year of university I applied to schools in Milan and Paris. Both of the schools gave me offers but finally I chose to go to school in Milan.

Click here to read on... The Fashion Week Chronicles is Urbanatomy's series of interviews with the designers on show at the Shanghai Fashion Week last month.

This time around, Jenny Ji...

What’s the inspiration behind your new collection?
It’s called Chinese gods. Normally you see lots of families, especially in the countryside, printing red things on dolls. It’s a traditional thing that’s come from the Tang Dynasty. Every family ties a kind of red tag onto a doll and that protects the whole family. We’ve changed it, we’ve kept the tradition but we’ve changed the ugly man into a very cute, lovely girl. The main inspiration I actually got from my friend, who is a Taiwanese artist. He did a cartoon drawing for me, with a cute little girl who’s holding a knife, a traditional kind of knife, a very big one. So with this drawing I developed many different kinds of design. We also printed it onto all different kinds of fabric, like chiffon and organic cotton to create different kinds of look. I think that’s adorable, so lots of people like the little girl.

You studied economics at university, when did you realize that you wanted to pursue fashion as a career?  Were your family and friends supportive of your decision?
I was in college in 1995, and in China around 1990/95 there weren’t so many fashion designers, so my parents didn’t think I would find a job. Being an artist can be a job to survive. But also, in another way, they were always thinking, if you’re not a good student, if you’re not good at math or English then you’re better off choosing to be an artist and going to art school, where they don’t do tests and exams in math and English. So if you’re only good at drawing you could very easily get into art college in China at the time. But I was quite good at the other tests so my parents and teachers were thinking ‘why don’t you continue with the economics instead of becoming an artist’. They thought there would be a better future for me. So I finished my bachelor’s degree, but I still felt I didn’t like it, because I studied drawing when I was a kid and I even carried on drawing when I was at college. So in my last year of university I applied to schools in Milan and Paris. Both of the schools gave me offers but finally I chose to go to school in Milan.

Your pieces are chic, but casual and comfortable, what do you think is the main appeal of your line to others?
Basically my brand is called La Vie, as in the French, C’est La Vie.. It’s based on people’s lifestyles, so it’s supposed to be comfortable and chic. We want to create a Chinese lifestyle but comfortable, casual and chic.

So this is the reason people are so attracted to your clothes?
Yeah, exactly.

What are the staple pieces in your personal wardrobe? What do you wear on a daily basis?
I think… I love shirts, I have a lot of blouses and I like to match them with jeans. So my daily wardrobe is full of different kinds of shirts and all kinds of jeans in different shapes.

You’re getting more recognized in your work, for example the New York Times recently featured you in a documentary. How does it feel to be receiving all this attention?
I think the people in China are different from those in Paris or Milan because only the little circles in fashion notice me, but most of them don’t know me. I quite like seeing not myself but my works, like in my shops or seeing clients wearing my designs. That makes me very happy. To be personally famous isn’t, actually, my favorite thing. I enjoy sitting, having a coffee on a corner and seeing a client who I don’t know in person but I know their clothes are my design. That makes my day. I’ll be happy and excited for the whole day. To see a beautiful woman wearing my clothes.

It must be quite a buzz. Fashion is a very tough industry to succeed in, what advice would you have for aspiring young designers looking to break into the industry?
I think now we have many young students graduating from school, looking for jobs. And now, actually, with the financial crisis it’s becoming difficult for them to find a nice job, especially for the students from art school because in China we don’t have many potential careers for art and for creative people to work. So I think, basically, try to find your own style and insist on your style if you like it. Because sometimes it’s easy for young people- and I’m one of the young people- sometimes if you don’t feel very good at one time, it will be better in the future. But if you change it and you keep changing it and you don’t keep your own style, then you really have problems. You may approach the market and try to see what styles are popular on the market, but sometimes that’s wrong. If you insist on your own style and stick with it, then you will be successful one day.

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