On the first morning of New York Fashion Week, the vibe at Claudia Li’s presentation in Chelsea’s airy Artbeam was tranquil, elegant, and intelligent. When I called her on the phone a few days earlier, the young designer had a dizziness-inducing glue hangover and sticky hands from the 13,000 orchids she had been affixing to cubes for her models to stand on. This is the third time that Claudia has shown in New York since hopping the Atlantic to Parson’s MFA program after studying fashion design at Central Saint Martins, then heading back to London to work under J.W. Anderson after the radical Irish designer caught sight of her portfolio. “It feels like a million years ago,” she says, pausing to do the math. It’s not just the glue — the 29-year-old designer’s timeline also includes many formative years spent in China (where she studied painting) and New Zealand.
Somehow Claudia manages to riff off each element of her diverse background without veering into chaos. She is exceptional at draping — so good J.W. Anderson plucked her from another continent — and demonstrated this on asymmetrical denim dresses, deconstructed trenches, and a sleek, oversized jumpsuit. Her fine arts training was evident from the floral embroidery rendered in chunky yarn and the three-dimensional bouquets that exploded out of men’s denim jackets. One of the most appealing elements was the collection’s sense of humor and inhibition. Last week Claudia told us that she was thinking about a woman wearing “some guy’s clothes,” a vision that was translated very literally on one sweatshirt embroidered with the words “SOME GUY’S SWEATSHIRT.” The gender-subverting cast of models were the perfect final flourish.
How did you come to work for J.W. Anderson? What influence did your time there have on your own line?
It was kind of an eye-opener. I interned for Brandon Maxwell at Haus of Gaga for eight months, then I got an email saying that Jonathan had seen my collection online and wanted me to freelance for him. I freelanced on two seasonal projects for him, then I got another email asking me to move to London and work for him. The most influential thing was that he let the designers do what they’re good at. I love draping and that was my main focus. So I was just in the pattern-making room working on draping the whole time. He didn’t really want me to leave but I really wanted to start my own line. I think after 30 I would lose the courage to just do it. It was the right time and I felt prepared.
Lady Gaga recently wore one of your turtlenecks to meet the Dalai Lama. Did you know that was going to happen?
Jonathan sent me the picture in the morning and I woke up and cried. A few years ago I was going through a very difficult period in my life and one of the Dalai Lama’s books really helped me through that. For Lady Gaga to meet him in my turtleneck was a bit overwhelming. I was super, super happy and honored.
How do you think your background in fine arts has influenced your work in fashion?
Even when I was painting I used different materials. There was something really feminine about my paintings, but also very structural and masculine. When I drape, it’s more about letting the materials express themselves than forcing them to be something they’re not. I love traditional craft — I used to do a lot of weaving. For me it’s how you use that traditional craft and use it in a new way. I use a lot of yarn — actually this season we were using Indian embroidery but changing the threads to yarn so that the embroidery is chunkier.
You recently gave a shout-out to New Zealand with the “Nui” clutch. Why did you decide to give it the Maori word for “giant”?
It was my first bag and my first official collection. I wanted to remind not only everyone else but myself that New Zealand was where I grew up and it’s home. I wanted the first bag to reflect that. I was really free-spirited growing up. I was going to the beach every weekend with my friends. In New Zealand you are very free to express yourself and there aren’t many restrictions on many things. My family kind of raised me like a wild child.
Last season you were working with a theme of self-preservation. What have you been influenced by this time around?
Last season was about self-preservation, and this season is more about what happens after that. It’s just how I have felt over the last couple of months. I wanted to translate the moment between dusk and dawn, because that’s when you have fewer inhibitions and don’t really care about anything because the night is coming. Those are the moments where you shed away reality and actually set yourself free. We’re also playing with the idea of a woman wearing some guy’s clothes — this woman went somewhere with a guy then the next morning she stole all his clothes. You know when guys wear sweatpants for way too long and the knee goes all saggy? The jeans have a little bulge on the knee.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Photography Bridget Fleming
Styling Claudia Li and Savannah White