Chinese fashion designer Wang Tao, commonly referred to as Taoray Wang, unveiled her collection of neo-Chinese clothing during the 2025 Spring/Summer New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in September 2024. Wang's collection, inspired by Chinese peonies, was a hit. In recent years, many Chinese fashion brands have participated in NYFW. Those brands have highlighted China's unique aesthetic tastes and traditional craftsmanship to the world.

Wang, creative director of Chinese fashion brand JUZUI, has displayed creations at NYFW several times since 2014. Wang has become a regular guest at international runways after years of working in the fashion industry in Japan, the United Kingdom, France and various other countries. 

Chinese Peony Wows Fashion Week

Wang's creations, brought to life by models during the 2025 Spring/Summer NYFW, were made with various techniques, and they were imbued with bright colors, such as tender pink, blue and cyan. It was JUZUI's second appearance at New York Fashion Week. 

"Chinese peony is known as the flower fairy in China, and it contains unique Chinese aesthetic charm. There are many varieties, and different forms, of the Chinese peony. Incorporating different images of the Chinese peony into a design can symbolize the beauty of women in different periods and styles," Wang says. She demonstrates the charm of the neo-Chinese style through her unique approach to portraying blooming flowers. 

Wang studied creative design at Mode Gakuen College of Fashion and Design, a prestigious institute in Japan, after she graduated from East China Normal University, in east China's Shanghai Municipality. Later, she was hired as an assistant designer for Junko Koshino, a well-known Japanese fashion designer. 

While in Japan, Wang gained rich experience in making patterns and the cutting of business attire. She frequently returned to China, to participate in exchange activities, as a representative of Koshino, and she often attended fashion weeks in Paris and New York. 

Wang moved to Europe when she was 30. She was appointed chief designer of a British fashion brand, Rebel Belle London, where she worked for four years. In 2020, French fashion brand, Charles Jourdan, asked Wang to be its creative designer. In March 2023, Wang joined Anzheng Fashion Group, at which time she became the creative designer of its brand, JUZUI. 

Wang's creations during the 2025 Spring/Summer NYFW featured innovative designs and techniques. She has worked with a company in east China's Jiangsu Province, and that company is well-known for inheriting the intangible cultural heritage of crimping techniques. Wang and representatives of that company have worked together to develop new molds. The "successful cooperation" has helped Wang add stylish, and ethereal, features to her creations. "There are many beautiful elements in Chinese culture, which is a source of inspiration for designers. As a Chinese designer, I hope to present Chinese cultural elements through my works, and to show the charm of 'Chinese designs' on international runways," Wang says. 

Attire, with Chinese Aesthetics

In 2014, Wang launched her namesake, high-end fashion brand, Taoray Wang, under which she has specialized in designing business attire that combines power and beauty for career women. 

Wang believes high-end, made-to-measure service is costly, and time-consuming, for career women, especially as they are generally busy. That gave her an idea: After a client selects her favorite dress style, during a Taoray Wang show, Wang modifies the color, fabric and size, according to the client's personal preferences. 

Wang's clients have welcomed the cost- and time-saving approach; as a result, Wang's business orders have increased, from clients in both China and the US. Wang has become an established designer in the global fashion industry, and the influence of her fashion brand has continued to increase. 

She is now a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and her creations have won the hearts of a growing number of Americans. Wang has held solo fashion shows, and released new collections, during several seasons of NYFW. During those events, Wang has interpreted fashion trends by utilizing bright colors, special fabrics and a unique design philosophy. 

Wang says her design career is about showcasing the elegance, intelligence and agility of women, and also about introducing traditional Chinese aesthetics, and Chinese women's styles of business attire, to the world. 

In February 2019, Wang released her collection in New York. The show brought together business executives, bankers, TV hosts, editors of fashion magazines, and people from other segments of society. During the event, Simon Collins, former dean of Parsons School of Design, in New York, said he was delighted to see creations by a Chinese designer, and added Wang's designs, with global perspectives, were particularly impressive. 

Neo-Chinese Style

Since 2023, when she became creative director of JUZUI, Wang has thought about ways to use neo-Chinese designs to reveal the achievements and self-confidence of career women. 

On February 11, 2024, JUZUI made a stellar first impression at NYFW with a collection that drew inspiration from Eastern elements, such as the poetic, blossoming Chinese peony, perfectly meshed with the Western fashion scene, especially through exciting textures, flowing silhouettes and a vibrant color palette. 

By using expressive and artistic techniques, Wang depicted the Chinese peony on exquisite garments; in fact, it seemed as if she had created what resembled a blooming spring garden, with myriad Chinese peonies in full bloom, during the event. 

Wang also drew inspiration from the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and she adopted classic colors to present the elegant feeling of her creations. Maye Musk, a supermodel and entrepreneur, closed the show. Musk said she has cooperated with Chinese designers many times, and she loves traditional Chinese aesthetics. 

"The language of fashion can cross countries, races, ages, genders and bring together people who love life and beauty. I hope Chinese fashion will become an integral part of the global fashion circle in the near future," Wang says. 

"Neo-Chinese style design should seek the combination of modern life and integration with other cultures. As fashion designers, we need to develop new techniques and patterns, and we need to understand consumer habits, in a drive to promote innovation-driven development of neo-Chinese style design. I hope the neo-Chinese style will continue to appear on overseas stages, and more international friends will like wearing neo-Chinese-style clothes," Wang concludes.

Photos from VCG

Source: People's Daily Overseas Edition

(Women of China English Monthly December 2024)

Editor: Wang Shasha