Chinese Design Competition: Huan Shengan explains the thinking behind her playful designs

The Real Leather. Stay Different. Chinese Design Competition celebrates the beauty, sustainability and versatility of leather, while recognizing the innovation and craftsmanship that the new generation has to offer. The competition engages with young and exciting designers to directly highlight the history, application and sustainable credentials of leather as a rich and versatile material. In doing so we look to recognize and reward creativity, craftwork and innovation in fashion & design while also creating new exciting ambassadors who can champion leather for the future.

Congratulations for being shortlisted! Tell us a bit about yourself.

My names Huan Shengan, I’m 22 years old and from Yiwu, Zhejiang, China.

Tells us about your submission?

I take my inspiration from the idea of naughty children, specifically my sister and nephew who are very noisy. I wanted to convert this abstract concept of naughty kids into figurative clothing.

My designs are mainly based on silhouette and print design. The silhouette of the clothing is relatively big, because the kids are lively and energetic, and the large outlines of the clothes reflect this. In terms of printing, I took from children’s drawings and improved them and created patterns.

The colours of the entire series are bright and contrasting. I think these colours can better reflect the naughtiness and playfulness of kids. They are often the opposite of adults.

The overall trend of the clothes is meant to reflect street style, which tends to be more popular with the fashionable younger youths.

What are your thoughts working with leather?

In my opinion, leather differs from other fabrics because of its unique texture. Moreover, leather is very strong, so printing, embroidery and other processes can be combined with leather. In my design I will print on the leather in some parts for decoration. I also paired a slightly harder leather with a soft down jacket fabric to highlight the contrast between the two materials, this is so the leather can become more fashionable.

*To find out more and check out the other entrants see our YouTube video here*

The Chinese Design Competition received 416 sketch designs from seven renowned universities and colleges, including Tsinghua University and Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, were submitted for the categories of Apparel, Footwear and Accessories. A judging panel consisting of domestic fashion designers, leather designers of retail brands and leather experts, has selected 54 of the most innovative designs. Winning finalists will then be selected for a product demonstration and award ceremony, planned to take place at Shanghai Fashion Week 2021, with national lifestyle and fashion media in attendance.