It has been three years since Di Du moved to Paris, and she continues to take inspiration from her new homeland and delve ever deeper into European culture, mining references wherever her curiosity takes her.
Recently she has become fascinated with architecture, notably with churches and Gothic architecture, and has traveled around France to discover its historic landmarks.
“Where I grew up, there were only modern buildings,” said the designer, who spent her formative years in the Chinese industrial city of Xuzhou. “It was always very dirty and I never really thought about beauty in architecture,” she said. The industrial aesthetic informed the darker, gritty aspect that characterizes her work, she admitted, but she is now combining that with more romantic references as she continues to study European culture and spin it into designs that maintain the underground vibe she’s known for while channeling a poetic sensibility.
This season, appropriately, the collection was named after Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du Mal,” exploring the tension between beauty and decay. “I think I had stereotypes looking at Gothic styles before. Now, I’m really into it, in another way,” she said.
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Gowns were structured like buildings, with boned corsets nodding to the arches of historic buildings and cross motifs evoking the church, like the look she showcased this fashion week with FabriX. Metallic leather was designed to look like armor, while the peaked shoulders of tailored jackets lent a Gothic vibe familiar to followers of Didu. The feminine touches, meanwhile, came by way of polka dots, silk and lace elements incorporated into her edgy designs.