Fen Chen Wang Blends East and West For Her FW23 Collection

Feng Chen Wang is a designer who has a unique perspective on blending Eastern and Western styles. Born and raised in a small village in southern China, she now splits her time between Shanghai and London and sees herself as a cultural ambassador for Chinese craftsmanship. “I am the best bridge-builder,” she says. “It’s about connecting culture and community, and generations as well.”

For her Fall collection, Wang drew inspiration from the Chinese tradition of the “Hundred Families Robe”, a patchworked mantle made up of 100 pieces of fabric collected from friends and family to bring luck to a newborn. She incorporated this idea into her designs by using deadstock fabrics from her studio mixed with Chinese silk fabrics to create a bomber jacket and a floor-length, double-breasted coat that can be converted into a cropped style. She also modernized the Chinese knot motif, inspired by her grandmother’s knotted hairstyle and knot-fastened garments, by making it into oversized cartoonish proportions on padded scarves, reversible puffer jackets, and shearling and nylon coats with detachable panels.

This collection also marked the official debut of Wang’s makeup collaboration with Estée Lauder, which will launch in April after two years of development. She focused on an eyeshadow palette of nude and beige tones with pops of plum, explaining that “purple is a very important color in China, meaning loyal family,” and that it relates to the phoenix, which is a symbol for the brand. The phoenix imagery also appeared on laser-printed indigo denim studded jackets and jeans, the pattern inspired by traditional ink drawings that Wang used to practice as a child, and on the foam rims that clip onto Nike Air Max 97s.

Wang’s choice of show venue, the Hôtel d’Evreux, was a departure from her usual raw, urban spaces with throbbing music, but this was intentional. “I wanted to have a bigger contrast—not following what people expect. I want to say, hey, the space is traditional, but people can be modern,” she explained. It’s no surprise that Wang has already been tapped as a collaborator by Nike, as she has a talent for revitalizing archetypes in unexpected ways.