There was a distinctly frosty charm to Xiao Li’s collection, with its melding of cold-weather knits, icy shades of green and blue and crisp shirting. To amplify the wintery mood, Li positioned the models in her low-lit, static presentation amid huge blocks of ice, in which she suspended select pieces from the collection.
China-born Li said she wanted the lineup to capture the sense of warmth and comfort that she felt when wearing a duvet coat her parents had given to her in the depths of a London winter. She interpreted that inspiration through her signature sculptural silhouettes, with pieces such as a sleeveless duvet coat with extravagant frills at the hem, and biker jacket-style zippers and pockets.
But she also translated the idea into eminently wearable pieces, such as one chunky, oversize sweater, knit from a melange of blue and white yarns, including one with a tactile, spongy texture. There were also oversize beanies and enveloping scarves, along with sweaters with sweet, scalloped edges.
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And with an eye on her global customer — her stockists span London to New York to South Korea and Japan — Li worked some lighter pieces into the collection, too. She crafted blue men’s shirting fabric into dresses with ruffled, off-the-shoulder necklines and girlish smock dresses, all providing a pleasingly sharp foil to the collection’s cozier elements.