Designer Zix Guan, right, with her model Yulia M.
Zix Guan staged a fashion show that appeared to be part vampire family-meets-"The Matrix" during Shanghai Fashion Week on opening day, April 11.
Meeting her for interviews after the show, I was afraid that she, like so many in Shanghai, didn't speak English, but lucky for me she does, so could answer all my questions about her inspiration and background. She said her theme was "Killers," inspired by Angelina Jolie, and her films, including "Wanted," "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "Salt."
Typecast as a dangerous woman, me thinks, but Zix would call her powerful. "Maybe she will wear my clothes someday," she said.
Of all people, Angelina Jolie would be one who could pull off Zix's more dramatic designs, inspired by her thinking, "Women in this country need to have power. In China, a lot of girls, women just live for their family, their love, their children; they never live for themselves.
"Women need power, but they still need to be sexy. This collection uses leather to make a woman feel powerful, with lace to make women more sexy."
Her collection featured a lot of raised, angled and pagoda shoulder details that appeared like armor.
"I think shoulder details can make a woman look more powerful," said the designer, who said she believes she had a sense of her own power as young as 4.
She said her father would punish her to make her apologize for purported bad behavior, but she said, "I didn't want to. I was thinking, 'You hurt me. Maybe you need to say I'm sorry to me."
She noted that because the root of her surname is "Gu," meaning "bamboo," they may both have been somewhat hard-headed and tenacious. Don't worry, they settled their differences long ago, so now her father helps her with her business.
A temporary tattoo design on her back featured bamboo, along with the words "Cold as fire, hot as ice."
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The designer began formal design schooling only three years ago after she said she tried to learn all she could through reading and self-study. This was her second show at Shanghai Fashion Week and she was curious to know whether I had seen her past work. When I said no, she said, "Oh, please don't look at it."
Of course that made me go back and look at it, and let's just say she's come a long way. But that's a good thing for any designer, to recognize one's journey.
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