ROPI Studio’s founder and designer Ping Rong’s philosophy emerges from the female independent consciousness and the independence of the individual. With inspirations found in architecture, sculpture, painting, music or cultural phenomena such as redhead emojis or the “Ocean’s Eight” #GirlSquad, just to name a randomly trending pair, excellence is pursued and wooed with all of Rong’s might and every bit of creative effort that she has. Time for Temper and Rong to Take Five!
Take 1! The ROPI Studio collection and client, each in three sentences. Go!
Rong: Short ‘n sweet, this shall be!
- The collection:
- Pure expression;
- Soft sculpture-like architecture in motion;
- Where asymmetry meets geometry.
- The client:
- Eternally elegant;
- The power of a lady-like force of nature;
- The independence of a fierce woman
Take 2! Does fashion reflect what’s happening in China — socio-economically speaking?
Rong: Firstly, I believe fashion everywhere has always been a reflection of one society’s socio-economic ongoings and the Middle Kingdom is no exception to this rule. China is experiencing stable economic growth and therefore is slowly yet steadily becoming a very potent fashion market. With great potential.
The China Fashion scene since 2010 has been well on its way to gaining global exposure. Thanks to increasingly higher levels in their education, the Chinese consumer has been leaning towards looking outwards, thus gaining more insight into what the world has on offer — (life)style-wise. The stylish Chinese trendwatcher now wants to discover and put together be their own person; a person who is no longer crazy about big luxury brands or logos and is starting to look for unique, special, original design to complete the puzzle that is their persona. So it will be a opening world of China Fashion in the future.
Take 3! What’s your creative viewpoint on the new crop of Chinese designers?
Rong: The Chinese fashion-devotee’s sense of aesthetic and taste is submitted to a consistent process of evolution. This new consumer wants to wear something exceptional and exclusive — in terms of design — and through this desire is creating the space and market for new fashion designers to realize their dream. They’re all so diverse, too… Some may apply Chinese traditional elements, whereas others may only put to use Western notions or play with a mixture of Western and Eastern components.
Needless to say, those budding Chinese fashion designers already have an innate understanding of Chinese culture as this is their background, ergo… They often know the taste and needs of their Chinese clientele. Sharing the same cultural background creates a bridge between designer and customer.
ROPI Studio, “WHITE IS ALL/ 白生万物” Collection. Photography by Alejandro Del Castillo for MOOI Studio
Take 4! How does the up and coming myriad of post-80 and -90 Chinese artists reflect a rearrangement within China’s cultural climate?
Rong: Their spirit is one of openness and freedom, with the most important edge being that they can get in touch with and relate to different cultures. This specially goes for those who attend school in the West; their minds and aesthetic ideas will be more comprehensive and more internationally inclined, creating a breeding ground for more innovative design. And as they bring their open-mindedness and new design concepts in from abroad, they are better equipped to create a new enclave within the Chinese fashion market.
These artists do also still reflect a shift in China’s cultural Zeitgeist, if only because of their background. I personally think their main contribution to the overall “New Made in China” label is to be viewed on a more international level. I myself am a Chinese fashion designer, but I’m also not a Chinese fashion designer given my designs cannot be defined by my passport.
Today, good design should have no borders. [Fashion Sans Frontières]
ROPI Studio, “WHITE IS ALL/ 白生万物” Collection. Photography by Alejandro Del Castillo for MOOI Studio
Take Five! Speaking of that pure, powerful woman… Gender in fashion. Your POV?
Rong: I design for that powerful and independent woman who knows who she is, what she wants and gets hers by working hard for it. I’m not a feminist per se and in my mind, “gender” merely constitutes a word referring to the physical realm; by no means can it define spirituality.
In sum, and from my POV, fashion doesn’t do “gender”. There, I’ve said it!
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence,” Vince Lombardi. Who said fashion and football couldn’t do a run and pass? When throw comes to catch, it’s all about those structured and calculated formations.
Photography: MOOI Studio
Team credits:
Photographer: Alejandro Del Castillo for MOOI Studio
Model: @dashaveselka
Make-up Artist: @frau_romanova
For more info, contact Ping Rong via:
E-mail: ping.rong@126.com
WECHAT: fashion 1980-0531
Copyright@Temper Magazine, 2018. All rights reserved
Perpetually in pursuit of the greater good that is “China Fashion”, van Paridon set up The China Temper to help promote the dynamite dynamic fashion scene sprouting within Beijing, Shanghai, and China overall. Catering to anybody and everybody who reads English and/or Chinese, Temper covers all the basics and bases. From China's street style scenery to its budding photographers, internationally renowned designers, and underground quirks plus phenomena: We present one hot-hip-happening current collective weaving The New "Made in China" tag.
The term “Made in China” is undergoing the ultimate 21st Century makeover. Escorted by the increasingly strong influence of a new thinking among China’s younger generations, regarding individuality and the expression thereof, the fashion scene in the Middle Kingdom is exploding. And stretches far beyond what meets the eye. It’s appliqué, one might say.
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