HAIZHENWANG autumn/winter 2017 collection presentation for LFW

HAIZHENWANG’s 2017 collection In Transit was an exercise in controlled avant-garde fashion that showed the designer’s eye for cut and material in a muted, elegant colour palette. Known for his sophisticated and modern approach, Wang drew on his experience as a precise, creative tailor to deliver garments that were bold but restrained and incredibly luxurious.

The models, sporting slicked back hair and faded burgundy lips, entered a space of stacked moving boxes that had been partially painted white and wrapped in cling foil, aiming to highlight the inspiration behind the collection. Picking up from his spring/summer 17 collection, the only themes that carried over into this outing was the designer’s skill to control volume and his love for subtle but luxurious woven jacquards.

The jacquard fabric featured as a heavy coat, but also a whimsical shrug hanging off of one shoulder to counterbalance the sharp collars of Wang’s tailored shirts. His trademark elongated, exaggerated cuffs peeked out of coats and jacket in clean white and dark grey pinstripe. Breaking up his clean tailoring were peplum corsets fashion from padded nylon, worn over outerwear pieces and pinched in at the waist.

In between the tailoring and oversized coats were slim, long dresses in black velvet, drawing the eye to burgundy pinstripes that seemed to have been handstitched onto the fabric.

The seatbelts we’re all too familiar with from security briefings on every train journey were transformed into belts that gave the voluminous garments a more feminine look. Some pieces has the word “fragile” sewn onto sleeve or chest, but this collection was anything but. With a colour palette of black, white, forest green, burgundy and soft khaki, the designer managed to reign in a concept that could have easily been taken to far to deliver a solid and wearable collection that longs to be taken on the next journey.

Teresa Kroenung
Photos: Kimberley Archer