Youyang Li — Parsons Festival 2022

Collection

Video: My thesis collection is all about my hometown, my family, and myself. My inspiration comes from the memory of my country life in Wangjiang (望江), a southern county of China. In Chinese, this place name means “seeing the Yangtze River”, which is the mother river in Chinese culture. I was born and grew up in Shanghai but I spent my summer and winter time in my hometown before I was 10 years old. To me this is a place with beautiful landscapes, peaceful lifestyles, and incredible creativity in terms of aesthetics and practical abilities. This place is also where my attitude towards life started to build up and develop. No matter where I am, the spirits of simplicity, optimism and hard-working I learned from my hometown would always be my inherent power to overcome difficulties in life. In this collection, instead of extracting something “correct” or “historical” from my memory, I rather want to translate that hazy emotion of nostalgia and the atmosphere of my childhood living space into present fashion language, to celebrate my memory and commemorate the place where my design identity came from.

PORTFOLIO

Seeing the River

Bio

ABOUT YOUYANG

Youyang Li is a womenswear designer originally from China, now based in New York City. Story-telling is the main idea that defines her designs. She believes that a good design is like a book. It can interact with the personalities and the thoughts of audiences, and then be given meaning. In terms of her creative ethos, she gravitates towards both new tech and organic techniques: She has experimented with various ways of making garments, like machine knitting, weaving, 3D printing, CLO 3D, etc. These methods allow her to approach new ideas and possibilities.

As a graduate of Parsons School of Design with a BFA in fashion design, concentrating in womenswear, she has participated in various internships at fashion brands such as Celine, SHUSHU/TONG, and Petite Studio, cultivated a well-rounded grasp of the fashion business in Shanghai and New York.

Her thesis collection entitled “Seeing the River” is a narrative about her hometown, family, and herself. In this collection, instead of extracting something “correct” or “historical” from her memory, she rather wants to translate that hazy emotion of nostalgia and the atmosphere of her childhood living space into present fashion language. To celebrate her memory and commemorate the place where her design identity came from.