Are you rich enough to break your china for a polo shirt? Lacoste is at no shortage of dough to commission Li Xiao Feng for his ultimate Project Runway Challenge. For this challenge Li used his post-orientalist approach to fashion and uses traditional and historical porcelain pieces to construct a polo shirt, the American staple.
This is a cross-cultural and multidisciplinary concept weaved into a shirt. The limited edition polo made out of dinner plates and rice bowls in Asia resulting in a remixed landscape of fashion through Li’s vision.
NEXT PAGE: PORCELAIN PRINTED POLO FOR LACOSTE
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For the piece, Li used over three hundred pieces and took over three months in construction. In an interview with Yatzer he says ‘Nonetheless, this time when I created the printed piece for LACOSTE, it gave me a new opportunity to realise my ideas. After the piece “Cheongsam” came about, I had an idea to use firing to create a new work. I could better express the things I wanted to though the patterns on the shards and the modelling. This gave a greater space for the expression of my ideas.’
From far east Beijing, Li has been crafting jumpsuits, dresses, and suit jackets out of broken porcelain that are archaeological treasures dating all the way back to the Ming Dynasty. He takes shards of carefully broken and polished porcelain pieces and architecturally builds upon metal mannequins in the ways of a traditional seamstress. Small holes are drilled into each piece and sewn together in meticulous detail with wire.
NEXT PAGE: PEEK INTO LI’S STUDIO
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The finished product which may weigh as much as medieval body armor but still maintains veritable elegance like a handful of silk. Originally trained as a sculptor, he wanted to create ‘rearranged landscapes’ through imaginative craftsmanship and the porcelain wardrobe that he boasts is a manifestation of such vision.
The unique and imperfect individual pieces find lock-and-key perfect fits in a clean silhouette by Li’s handicraft. Li’s vision is a refuge from ‘runway couture’ and introduces a new element of contemporary decadence that extends beyond traditional branding.
NEXT PAGE: SUIT JACKET PIECED BY WIRE
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Orderly chaos of Li’s glass quilted pieces are visually engaging and revealing of his love affair for modernity while retaining his historical and cultural roots. The puzzle pieces come together not only through incessant calculation but also willingness to leave room for experimentation.
NEXT PAGE: PORCELAIN DRESS
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