Shang Xia names Yang Li creative director, will show in Paris

By

Dominique Muret

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 23, 2021

Time for change at Shang Xia, the understated Chinese luxury label, founded in 2010 by designer Jiang Qiong Er in partnership with Hermès, and bought by Exor, the holding company of Italy’s Agnelli family, in December 2020. 

The label has updated its fashion strategy, moving in a decidedly more contemporary direction. Shang Xia has in fact recently appointed as its creative director for fashion young Chinese designer Yang Li, who will unveil his first collection for the label on October 4 in Paris.

 
It will be a first for Shang Xia on the prestigious Paris Fashion Week calendar. Shanghai-based Shang Xia was born as a quintessentially Chinese ready-to-wear, furniture and tableware brand positioned at the very top end of the market, inspired by traditional local craftsmanship and featuring a 100% Chinese, extremely high-priced brand concept.
 
Hitherto a rather understated label, Shang Xia has now radically changed direction, unveiling a futuristic new logo with horizontally laid-out lettering. A logo that will “usher in the innovative, contemporary design approach that Yang Li will inject in Shang Xia.”

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Li, 34, is not an unknown entity. He has been showing in Paris since 2013, and first caught the eye in 2014 as a finalist in the LVMH Prize’s first edition. The Beijing-born designer left China aged 10 to settle with his family in Perth, Australia, where his early feel for fashion was influenced by the styles typical of basketball and skateboarding.
 
When nearly 20, Li moved to London and studied at the prestigious Central Saint Martins college, which he left to join Raf Simons (currently the joint creative director of Prada) at the latter’s Antwerp studio. Back in London in 2011, Li launched his own men's and women's ready-to-wear label, featuring a cool luxury style with a romantic/minimalistic vibe, veined with a punkish streak and sportswear influences.
 
“Yang Li’s personality and his recognised talent, as well as his contemporary vision and understanding of sustainability, ensure that he will spontaneously approach and enrich Shang Xia’s unique heritage,” said Jiang Qiong Er, the label's co-founder and head of style, in a press release.