Qinxuan Wu’s graduate collection explores themes of autonomy and resistance

“I want to express beauty from the female perspective.”

Melbourne fashion graduate Qinxuan Wu’s latest collection draws influence from a defiant fictional character in the Chinese novel, A Dream of the Red Chamber. Reflecting on themes of liberation and rebellion, her collection of work seeks to embody the sexual awakening felt by a woman. By sourcing and using entirely biodegradable materials like bioplastic and gelatin Qinxuan’s pieces take on ethereal shapes and forms.

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As an official media partner of Paypal Melbourne Fashion Festival, Fashion Journal is excited to once again be supporting the National Graduate Showcase, celebrating Australia’s top-ranked emerging fashion design talent. The top 10 leading graduates from across the country will exhibit their collections in a boundary-pushing presentation, showcasing experimental design and innovation. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be profiling each designer through a series of interviews. Next up is Qixuan Wu.

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

I graduated with a Bachelor of Fashion Design from RMIT University and I am currently studying Fashion Design (Honors) at RMIT. I grew up in a multicultural environment and lived by myself in Australia for six years. This gives me a unique perspective to observe the world, where I will always be curious about everything…

Every day I wake up, [and] when I look at myself in a mirror, I see an Asian woman. This identity made me experience many unfair and painful things. I want to express my point of view… to speak up for myself and [for] people who struggle. I really trying to use fashion as a unique language to raise certain awareness in the world.

Tell us about your collection.

My work began with my thoughts on the subjective objectification, eroticisation and profanation of the female image and body in contemporary society… from ancient times to the present day, in the Eastern and Western world, women’s clothing has been used to regulate female behaviour. Foot wraps, corsets, etc… my inspiration is from a character in a Chinese fiction [novel], A Dream of the Red Chamber.

As a girl born into the wealthiest family in the Qing dynasty, Xiangyun is very rebellious. I used her most famous scene from the book [as inspiration] – she gets drunk and sleeps in a flower bunch. In my interpretation, this scene symbolises women at that time seeking freedom and sexual liberty. I want to convey an image of a woman free of the male gaze, using a female perspective to express the beauty of this scene…

When did you know you wanted to get into fashion and textile design?

To be a fashion designer was my childhood dream. It has been buried for many years. In the beginning, I studied music performance as my major… but I was encouraged by a friend [who] went to FIT in New York. I realised it was not too late… I applied for the under-18 summer school program at Central Saint Martins.

I experienced so many amazing classes, I was like a little fish finally getting a chance to swim in the ocean.  I finally determined I want to do fashion and textile design, hopefully for the rest of my life. I want to create, to express, to speak out loud… [hopefully] one day, no one can ignore my voice anymore.

What were the major points of inspiration for your collection, and you more broadly as a designer?

I love reading, but I realised how plain female characters [often are] in literary works, particularly when men wrote the book. Female characters in their books are always pretty, charming, fragile… and fall in love with the main character hopelessly… this happens a lot, the society has been influenced.

It is not a good thing and what I want to say through my collection is yes she is beautiful, but she does not need your self-righteous ‘protection’. She is untouchable, she does not need you to understand her, you need to respect her. I want to express beauty from the female perspective.

What part does sustainability play in your design practice? And other ethical considerations?

I used 100 per cent biodegradable materials and self-invented prints in my collection to achieve sustainable consideration. I used edible material to create fabric.. to show how achievable bioplastic can be. It is my main fabric for this collection. I used gelatin as the main material to create the biomaterial.

I am very interested in similar materials… I will probably replace the animal-based gelatin with plant-based alginate. It is hundred per cent biodegradable, and through my experiment, I found that this material can be re-melted and reformed into different shapes, which allows me to have more opportunities to explore it in different dimensions.

By experimenting with those materials… I found so many possibilities and chances to explore more and develop something incredible. It can change this industry into a better place, and that’s what almost everyone is trying to do now – change the environment into a better place.

Tell us about the experience of putting together your graduate collection.

My collection tells the story of… a woman struggling with social recognition. I used gelatin as the main material to create the biomaterial representing women’s awareness… it has a strong comparison to the mesh fabric in my collection.

Who do you think is most exciting in Australian fashion right now?

So many! I could talk about this all day. So many Australian fashion brands have grown globally… I am very honoured to witness the rising Australian fashion industry.

What about the Australian fashion industry needs to change?

As I just graduated with a bachelor’s degree, I think it will be better for the Australian fashion industry to have more collaborative works and projects with fashion design students in Australia.

Dream Australian collaborators?

Tanya Schultz, Nnenna Okore, CJ Hendry, Lindy Lee, Lucy McRae, Zsofia Samu, Abdulla Elmaz and Juz Kitson. They are so creative and I highly resonate with their artwork. Their works provoke me and inspire me a lot.

Some of Qinxuan’s responses have been edited for clarity. To view more of the designer’s work, head here.