Body in Time

Angelou Zhu brings a tailored, sporty perspective on modern womenswear to Paris Fashion Week for their SS18 Collection, which debuts at Showroom Romeo on September 28th through October 7th. 

Taking as the starting point an uneasy relationship between the uninterrupted flow of time and it’s fragmentary, framed and static artifacts we create to record it, designer Anzhe uses film-like transparency and depth to capture this relationship, embody its very physical breakdown in frozen shadows cast by a dancer. This most archaic spectacle we all know — shadow play on a wall created by a hearth fire or by a cinema projector — breaks up and rebuilds fragments of time and puts them into motion. Body and movement converge into one — fluid, graceful yet visceral, real and honest entity. 

These ideas have informed the way the collection is presented. Instead of a traditional static presentation, it was shoot on a motion camera on a dancer performing series of abstract dance etudes punctured with poses frozen in the moment. 

More than just in the presentation, dance motifs find its way into the ornaments onneckline and hem of a pony-hair leather dress quite literally inspired by the famous Henry Matisse painting “The Dance”. Its knit-shaped structure created by laser cut creates an organic body-hugging shape unusual for such a material as pony-hair hide. Innovative mechanism of weaving, joining pieces of the garment together instead of traditional stitching echoes pieces from the previous collection of Angelou Zhu. 

Interaction between femininity and masculinity is the second leitmotif which steps into the new collection from the previous season. This time masculine style references such as shirting, argyle, and houndstooth are softened and reinterpreted with modern techniques and perspective. Argyle tops are created with fine, sheer knitting — a contemporary take on the classic pattern. Femininity is presented as a layered concept, one that is mediated by delicate fabrics with masculine lines — to be built up or stripped down by the wearer.  

After graduating form the Graduate Diploma course at Central Saint Martins, Anzhe went on to earn a MA degree in Womenswear from the Royal College of Art, leading to the creation of his label Angelou Zhu. His work was first presented at London Fashion Week. Angelou Zhu AW17 debuted at Onetimeshow Shanghai Fashion Week.