Up-An-Coming Designer: W by Wenjun

About a month ago I attended a trade show in Paris called Tranoi. This trade show is dedicated to displaying the collections of up and coming designers to buyers, press and all the others who work in the fashion industry. At this show I saw hundreds of amazing collections but the one that stood out to me the most was a collection called W by Wenjun created by the wonderful Li Wenjun. I spent a good 20 minutes talking to her about her work and she was the nicest person I met over the three days. After a few emails back and forth I am writing my blog post about her and her collection.

W by Wenjun is a very modern collection that could easily be worn on the street but is still beautiful and fashionable. It’s a combination of Parisian chic with simple cuts and exotic Chinese style from Li’s heritage with the incredible fabrics that she uses. I asked Li a few questions which she answered so here they are as well as the images of her collection that she kindly supplied me with.

Q: Where were you educated and what did you study?

A: I studied in The Academy of fine arts in China, after graduation I came to Paris, France, to study fashion design in STUDIO BERÇOT, a fashion design school which is very understated but well-reputed. 

Q: What experience did you have in the fashion industry before starting your own line? 

A: I began the first fashion internship in a very small designer brand which basic in Paris, as a small company, I needed to work on many things, and I learned how a fashion brand runs from A to Z. Then I began to do my internship in the bigger company such as Vivienne Westwood, Givenchy, Kenzo, Valentino, for those well-known brands, I sometimes worked in the showrooms, sometimes worked as design assistant, sometimes for shop and administration, it helps me to understand more about how fashion companies work as I always had an idea to creat my own brand. After all those experience with the European brands, I went to  New York City for me last internship for 6 months, just wanted to know more about NY fashion, to enlarge my view and experience.

Q: What made you decide to create your own line?

A: Creating my own line is more about freedom, as an artist, I feel like creating a piece of art when I am making clothes. I just want to follow my feelings.

Q: What inspired your collection?

A: Life, it's more about an attitude to life, it could be a feeling, an impression, a sight, a person, a habit...

My favorite piece is a oversized shirt made of fabric that looks like dragonfly wings (above right). It could be worn over anything or tucked into a sleek skirt. I love the versatility of this collection and the way it can all be worn together or with other designers pieces. Let me know what you think of the collection and check out Li's website: http://www.wbywenjun.com/

Fashion and Eating Disorders

Recently a friend confided to me that she struggled with an eating disorder. This is the second friend I've known who as suffered from these problems and it occurred to me that if you are a young female it is most likely that you will know at least one person who struggles with eating disorders, even if no-one is aware of it. I didn't want to make a great long post about this as I haven't suffered with it personally and don't have any medical knowledge about it so I don't feel that I'm in a position to discuss it in such a way. I just wanted to put across some thoughts and opinions that have occurred to me on the subject of eating disorders.

The fashion industry employs overly skinny models which has had an impact on our society, causing the image of a 'perfect' woman to become warped into unachievable  thinness. Although this is not the only reason for eating disorders, it is something which certainly does not help those who suffer from conditions such as anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders are at the root mental issues and many people do not understand so disregard them as attention seeking and pathetic. There are organisations working to help people better understand eating disorders and this is something which needs to continue.

Although many of the top supermodels are still incredibly thin there has been substantial development in the fashion industry of not using size zero models. Many fashion weeks and houses such as Madrid Fashion Week and Prada have banned models under a certain BMI from walking in their shows. In Israel it is illegal to employ any model with a BMI under 18.5. There is still a long way to go before the image of 'perfection' is restored to a healthy, any size woman but there are clear steps in the right direction.

If you suffer from, or know anyone who suffers with an eating disorder, or just want some more information on it then these are some websites I've found helpful:
http://www.rethink.org/young_people/what_is_mental_health/what_are_eating_diso.html?gclid=CJqYitKE67UCFUTItAodkUAAiw
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Eating-disorders/Pages/Introduction.aspx
http://www.b-eat.co.uk/