YStyle Exclusive: Rising star Yiqing Yin designs couture at 25

PARIS — It was unprecedented: the ANDAM fashion awards, a prestigious fashion body in France, awarded a designer with the Young Designers’ Collection prize. Yiqing Yin was the lucky recipient. As fall/winter 2011 couture week began, she had begun to make a dress for Cartier’s global video campaign ad. During the spring/summer 2012 shows, a private showroom with Galeries Lafayette, where a window display showcased a gown, welcomed editors and buyers from around the globe. She is slated to show a prêt-à-porter collection in next season’s shows. The designer studied at the Ecole Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, and won the Grand Price of Creation awarded by the City of Paris. Her collections have been displayed in the windows of the Ministère de la Culture, the Théâtre National de Chaillot and the Joyce Gallery. Philippine STAR sat down with Yin for an exclusive interview.

YSTYLE: Tell us a bit about the ANDAM Awards.

YIQING YAN: That was stressful and it was a very impressive experience to present my work in front of all those people... In addition, one of the dresses I had to present literally went up in flames 10 minutes before the presentation. In the end, I felt very honored just to be there and even more so that they granted me a prize. It was really encouraging for me and gives some confidence in working hard. I hope not to disappoint anyone. 

Can you tell us a little bit about your first couture collection?

The collection is named “Ouvrir Vénus,” and is composed of 22 looks, mainly dresses. I wanted to explore an ideal of female beauty that had been flayed open, peeling the different layers of the female anatomy in order to reveal a sensuousness that is very intimate and fragile. It is a close anatomical study through the lines, volumes and graphics that compose the silhouettes. Having benefited from many sponsors including Swarovski and Saga furs, I used all sorts of materials from silk, furs and crystals in order to reconstruct a second skin for a new body, keeping a very sculptural and instinctive approach to garment construction and embroidery. This first collection was about exploring new definitions of sensuousness and eroticism, the space between armor and nudity, and imagining a new creature, half animal, half mineral.

So are you planning to do couture in the meantime, or are you going to do prêt-à-porter too?

I will keep presenting during couture for the time being. I don’t think fashion should just be a product, but also a shared emotion, a story, and should be a space of creative freedom. Beauty is a purpose in its own. I believe in the values of couture, the intimacy, the excellence and the respect for the people who make the clothes and for those who wear them. I think it’s up to the new generation to be aware of its legacy, to disturb and give it a new light... I view couture as a creative laboratory to propose new definitions of beauty in accordance with our era. I want to construct a clear image and identity before diluting my ideas for a commercial purpose. So PAP will be the next step, but I want to take the time and find the means to develop a product that is coherent in quality and style to the original story of the brand.

Any projects or installations in the works?

I am currently working on an exclusive couture order from Cartier for their next global campaign film. Exciting projects coming up in Asia as well. 

You had a fragrance in your couture show; can you tell us a little bit about that?

Yes, I had a wonderful collaboration with IFF who was a kind sponsor of the show and renowned perfumer Dominique Ropion who was kind enough to develop a special perfume for the brand. We worked side by side on the fragrance which was a very exciting experience, in interpreting the emotions and concept of the collection in terms of perfume.

Fragile creatures: Yiqing Yin wants to “explore an ideal of female beauty that had beent flayed open, peeling the different layers of the female anatomy in order to reveal a sensuousness that is very intimate and fragile.”

What inspires you when you design?

The starting point for each design is always the encounter with the fabric. I make all the toiles myself, and often the prototypes, too. I have kept a very instinctive and sculptural approach to design and most garment creation starts directly upon the mannequin. I think part of the beauty and humanity in design is when you feel the “hand trail” on the garment. It is through molding the fabric directly onto the body that I have developed new pleating and draping techniques, and discovered surprising new shapes, volumes, graphics. I love working the details, while trying to stay attentive to the balance in proportions. I like to preserve the freedom in not knowing what the result will be, as it is by welcoming fortunate accidents that I come across the most unexpected discoveries.

Who is your ideal Yiqing Yin woman?

I design for women who are independent in their heart, and work on re-owning their identity. Women are instinctive and playful creatures. I want to give them an alternative that they deserve, and give them the confidence to embrace their singularity as their strength. My design is devoid of any social connotations. For me, complexity in a garment should have meaning and serve its construction, and never be just decorative. In the techniques I develop I always bare in mind the female anatomy which the garment is destined to serve. The body is the only protagonist in the design process and the garment is a shelter and a projection. By exploring the dynamic potentials of pleats and draping, I try to propose new definitions of beauty, grace and eroticism. I would like the woman who wears my clothes to assimilate it as a second skin, in which she becomes a new creature, shall it be a goddess or a predator.

Who is your ideal customer? 

A woman who is sensuous, sensitive and independent in spirit, with no self-inflicted social or moral boundaries. Very creative in the way she dresses and designs her life. Any woman who values quality and the sense of uniqueness. 

How much of your work has a Chinese influence?

Subconsciously perhaps, but the way I work is too instinctive to be able to associate any cultural or social influences with the aesthetic language. I am not so much influenced by my roots or any place I call home. On the contrary I believe the state of wandering and uncertainty is a good ground for creativity.

Any words for other aspiring designers?

When you are young and easily impressed, a lot of people will want to advise you or influence you in one way or another, and that can get very confusing. Listening is important but at the end of the day you have to trust your guts, and your instinct. I believe that common sense, devotion and stubbornness can sometimes make up for lack of experience. It is a world that is full of illusions and it is better to keep focused and never forget that the only real thing is to work hard and with honesty.