“Do not judge, or you too will be judged,” the Bible states. Not the Fashion Bible, but the actual one — starring Jesus Christ. Problem is… Holier than thou, Temper is not and we heart to judge. So scroll and you shall find, in random order, the Top Ten Shanghai Chosen Ones.
Particle Fever
1. Particle Fever
Particle Fever is a high-end designer sports brand launched by Shanghai Dimensions Technology Co., Ltd. under the Shanghai Ruler Technology Co., Ltd. The brand designs each sportswear piece with an unconventional experimental attitude, thoroughly thinking about how one sportswear item can reflect a process and aesthetic perspective.
There is at the moment a higher demand in China for creativity, avoiding the popular trend of blind obedience, rejecting meaningless labels, and freely practicing all the pioneering plans related to sportswear from the multiple perspectives of art, technology, and culture.
Starting with every inch of fabric, Particle Fever strives to eliminate all intermediate costs, stretch to the limits, and provide more uniqueness.
Instagram: @particlefever_official
OUDE WAAG
2. OUDE WAAG
OUDE WAAG (hey there, Dutchies!) is the 2017-born brainchild of Jingwei Yin, a designer who moved to London back in 2009 and went on to walk down the full educational isle in the Western system — one BA at Central Saint Martins and one MA at Royal College of Art.
Yin’s journey since graduating and returning to China has been an introspective exploration of what it means to be a designer and the role education had in preparing him up for the inner itinerary.
Personal, emotional, and conceptual. Whilst boasting dominant prints, the label’s use of color signifies a strong yet elegantly subdued creative conception. Walking the fine line between OTT draping and understated tailoring, Yin’s interpretation of “designing” is to strike a balance between Asian aesthetics and Western cuts.
Refining the complex considerations lies at the heart of the brand’s philosophy: a celebration of female power, yet simultaneously a critique of the ongoing objectification and idealization of the female body.
Still trying to figure out where that ueber-Dutch brand name hails from, though… #staytuned
Instagram: @oudewaag
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SHUSHU/TONG STUDIO
3. SHUSHU/TONG STUDIO
Shanghai-based design duo Liushu Lei and Yutong Jiang both graduated from the Womenswear MA at the London College of Fashion. The duo describes their aesthetic as “bold and feminine”. These two Gen Z designers paid their dues at Simone Rocha and Gareth Pugh respectively before launching their own label ShuShu/Tong in 2015.
Inspired to create collections that are special yet accessible, Lei and Jiang settled their goal of expressing young and fun without sacrificing femininity. They keep pushing the concept of “boundaries” between girl and woman, redefining femininity with a modern cool attitude.
There’s a reason our very own Minyoung Lee interviewed this dynamic duo for Temper’s second-ever print edition, “The Vanity Issue”.
Instagram: @shushu_tong
STAFFONLY
4. STAFFONLY STUDIO
Shimo Zhou and Une Yea established their London- and Shanghai-based brand Staff Only Studio in 2015 after graduating from Central Saint Martins (London). A Staff Only man always possesses an abundance of curiosity and a sense of humor and is willing to break the boundaries and explore the unknown eras of the world. The brand focuses on establishing collections based on a sharp concept and the use of innovative materials.
A juxtapose with geeky and poetic atmosphere is what the designers are looking for: A new attitude and a revolution in traditional menswear.
STAFFONLY illustrates unlimited imagination beyond the word itself. The designs focus on the logic hidden from the appearance and the sense of communal recognition from the groups and communities. The development of a fresh concept and identity is the essential first step in the symbiotic design process.
This, in turn, leads to a series of curated materials and color choices for an ironic and provocative take on male mode mayhem(lines) enhanced by functional and sculpted silhouettes.
The brand samples are produced in-house and thus the designers can maintain 100 percent control over their evolution. The subsequent collections are then produced in a factory in Shanghai.
Instagram: @staffonlystudio
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TiwillTang
5. TiwillTang
We at Temper crossed over to the dark side a lifetime ago, though admittedly our “edge” is brimming with red (wine), neon lights, and bright eyesight-blasting graffiti.
Being the tempestuously temperamental personalities we portray ourselves to be, Temper has a natural-born fondness for menswear brand TiwillTang.
The brand’s fanciers usually have something they are proud of and live life in free and easy fashion. TiwillTang presents us with perceptive intuitional forms of materialized Visual Kei — a movement among Japanese musicians, characterized by the use of varying levels of makeup and flamboyant costumes, often coupled with androgynous aesthetics reflected and replaced by a stronger sense of thought and touch.
Instagram: @tiwilltang_design
6. SIRLOIN
Sirloin is a Shanghai-based label founded by Japanese|Swedish designer duo Mao Usami and Alve Lagercrantz. Both creators are 2013 Central Saint Martins (London) graduates, specializing in Womenswear design. For their MA collection, Usami was awarded the LVMH Grand Prix Scholarship, the L’Oreal Professional Young Design Talent Award. Lagercrantz in his own right was honored with the Sally Woodward award. Their careers then took flight at Louis Vuitton and Dries Van Noten, respectively, until they ventured out into alien territory and founded their very own brand assembly: Sirloin.
The brand celebrates the importance of “laziness and stupid elegance,” a puzzling yet intelligible philosophy based on the humorous criticism of everyday life. By integrating fleeting moments of daily life into a visual language, the designers intend to re-design the wardrobe from the inside out.
As the old saying goes… If you want to talk boll*cks and discover the meaning of life, you’re better off just downing a bottle of whisky…
At least that way, you’re unconscious by the time you start to take yourself seriously.
Instagram: @sirloin_official
FFIXXED Studios
7. FFIXXED Studios
FFIXXED studios started out in 2008 as a Berlin-based creative collaboration between Kain Picken and Fiona Lau. The two have since then made their move to the Shanghai fashion playground, still work collaboratively, but now with the support of a small team.
Working from the notion of Enhanced Everyday Essentials, the duo looks at what’s around them as a starting point — ergo the definite Asian influence from that perspective.
FFIXXED is interested in reduction and simplicity, but also time and again chooses to interrupt those ideas with something more eclectic.
This brand is hands-on and exploring a more D.I.Y. (if you will) approach is of the essence to its core storytelling.
Digital or analog design, FFIXXED shows no interest in nostalgia or hierarchies, bust opts to play with different styles and channels of communicating.
Natural fibers, custom-developed fabrics, and personalized production techniques reside on the top of the designer agenda to physically touch upon issues of sustainability and ethical working practices.
Instagram: @FFIXXED_STUDIOS
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Ming Ma Studio
8. Ming Ma Studio
Instagram: @mingma_official
BAN XIAOXUE
9. BAN XIAOXUE
BAN XIAOXUE both respects and advocates nature. On the one hand, the brand features clothes in their most natural state; on the other hand, the brand likewise employs people in their primal, natural state. BAN XIAOXUE always regards nature as a belief, maintaining the initial silence and softness, uncovering the origins of the Self as well as the origins of life, and realizing the current consciousness and balance between “searching for” and “return to.”
These creations feel and listen to culture, philosophy, and aesthetics from every corner in the world, uncover unintentional beauty, use the power of nature to establish harmony, and share the love and emotions accumulated by time and memory.
Instagram: @banxiaoxue
Love Louder
10. Love Louder
A lust for the eye that has to travel, Love Louder is a Shanghai-based brand celebrating both excessive and economic designs for all genders. Boasting sweaters and dresses which range across a borderline-outer-space colorfully graphic spectrum, Love Louder is the go-to tag for those fashionably quirky. And pretty perky.
Nevertheless, the brand holds a trump card reeling in even the slickest and thickest of minimal-loving thieves, adding a touch of stylish shtick for those less exuberant when it comes to their daily getups in the shape and size of that ultimate classic: The Black Leather Jacket. Bearing an all-black ensemble following.
Love at first sight.
Instagram: @lovelouderofficial
FEATURED IMAGE: COURTESY OF SHUSHU/TONG STUDIO
www.shushutongstudio.com
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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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