School of Art and Design Wins Award at China Grad Fashion Week

The School of Art and Design of the China Women's University (CWU) won a "Talents Cultivation Award" at the 2015 China Graduate Fashion Week, as the event in Beijing came to a close on May 20. By the end of proceedings, almost 900 graduates from 32 universities from China and abroad had taken part.

On May 19, the fashion show organized by graduates specializing in fashion design of the Art Design school was held at 751D•PARK in the capital, where distinguished guests from the university and luminaries from the fashion world were invited to attend.

Attendees at the event included Professor Li Dangqi, president of the China Fashion Association; Professor Song Shengju, vice-president of the CWU; Professor Wang Lu, dean of the School of Art and Design at the CWU; Zhang Qinghui, vice-president and secretary-general of the China Fashion Association; Zhu Shaofang, director-general of the China Fashion Association; Wu Xuewei and Liu Wei, two previous winners of the "Top Award" (China's leading prize for fashion designers), and two of China's top 10 designers, both members of Fashion Art Council of the China Fashion Association; and Zhang Guohe, general manager of Nanjing Texland Garments Co., Ltd. Representatives from other enterprises, together with further students and tutors were also present at the event.

The show was presented under the theme of "Interplay: The Combination of Clothing and Understanding". It was created and developed by graduates and teachers from the school, and aimed to promote thinking on the theme from the unique perspective of "women's feelings". The team of tutors and graduates did their best to make the show special from the subject to the evolution, creation and materialization of the main concept.

The 24 graduates taking part presented 76 outfits in total. Informed by cross-disciplinary theory and innovations, the fashion show focused on the integration and application of the creations. In addition, the would-be designers put much emphasis onto the analysis of customers' needs in terms of appearance, materials and techniques.

A highlight of the show was the emotional experience relating to care and beauty conveyed by the graduates. For example, fashionable clothes with special tools carried by models and casual clothing for wheelchair users were both featured. Furthermore, ski-suits designed for the whole family from the elderly to the young, and multifunctional clothes for couples to adapt to various climates while traveling were also worn by models at the show.

The display not only inspired those students to be more creative through such practices but also enlightened them to combine artistry and technology, to satisfy various social communities and add new interpretations to fashion conventions.

A uniqueness of the Fashion Design in CWU lies in the integration of femininity and the discipline itself, as well as the highlighting of the fostering of application-oriented talents. Adhering to the philosophy of cultivating creative designers, tutors from the CWU considered their graduates' work as an assessment on the quality of fostering designers whilst also teaching their students to be more innovative and learn about fashion and clothing industry with a down-to-earth manner. Meanwhile, they hope their teaching could motivate students to understand the demands of the public.

The display was a visual art feast with care and social responsibility, giving a sense of emotional satisfaction and artistic feeling throughout the event. Moreover, the show presented the graduates' gifts as well as providing examples for the other pupils. As a demonstration of students' fruitful results over past four years, the show was also seen as a review of the quality of teaching and talent cultivation.

(Source: cwu.edu.cn/Translated and edited by Women of China)