Here and Now Fashion Festival

Winnie Zhu’s collection is entitled “The Retrofitted Future City 改造された未来都市”. This collection is Winnie’s interpretation of a retrofitted future city from her own perspective, in which she imagined her own version of a futuristic cyberpunk cityscape through 7 looks. Inspired from multiple science-fictional films, “Ghost In The Shell”, “Alita: Battle Angel”, and especially the movie “Blade Runner 2049”, this collection is a world Winnie has built where she explores her visions and create her own characters.

Developed from geometric-shaped drapes with cut-out patterns, Winnie’s designs incorporate the usages of various geometric elements. For instance rectangles, triangles, and circles, with many extracted directly from the photographs of cyberpunk cityscapes in which she has documented. The silhouettes of Winnie’s designs are simultaneously geometric and organic, containing both diagonal and curvilinear seam lines. Inspired from parts of the city such as viaducts and overpasses beneath highways, Winnie finds the coexistence of the curvilinear and geometric lines and shapes interchanging rather intriguing.

In order to portray the sense of high-tech and gleaming nightscape lighting in a futuristic metropolis, Winnie’s collection consists of fabrics that are perceived distinctively under different light sources. Some examples include 3M reflective luminescent fabric, PU faux iridescent leather, and nylon taffeta with blue glow. Moreover, Winnie built in the surfacing technique of sewing LED neon light lamp lines into the garments’ seam lines, as well as using technical hardwares that reflect neon glows. Additionally, Winnie’s collection contains 7 under garments of bodysuits and tights that match with her 7 upper looks. The under garments are made using customized printed spandex fabrics, with the prints being the photographs that Winnie has documented herself priorly as visual research.

Winnie Zhu is a recent graduate of Parsons School of Design, majoring in Fashion Design and minoring in Communication Design. Winnie was born in Vancouver, Canada and raised in Beijing, China. As Winnie grew up in a multi-cultural environment, she gradually began to develop insights and interests in both the Traditional Chinese culture and the Western culture. During the few years of study in which Winnie has pursued Fashion Design as a major, she has boosted her creativity and open-mindedness, and enhanced her abilities as a designer. Winnie has a deep affection for science-fictional movies, in particular the cyberpunk sub-genre. Many of her designs are inspired by the idea of futurism and modernism, she is interested in designing so that technology and fashion could be merged into one.