Yizhen Xu

‘We never need to live in the eyes of others’

Don't endlessly deny yourself because of what others say, 'there are many different ways to be beautiful'.

This collection, ‘Cocooning’, is a testimony to my step-by-step efforts to build my confidence. It tells the story of my journey from low self-esteem to self-confidence, through all my concepts, to face my flaws and find the best style for me, attempt after attempt.

The concept for the work revolved around body anxiety as this is the problem I am currently experiencing. So, in this graduation work, I chose to face my inferiority and deficiencies, make changes for myself, wrap myself up and grow, and finally bloom - feeling safe and wrapped up. In my personal understanding, the process of building confidence requires feeling secure. I need to incubate my confidence in an environment where I feel secure so choosing the right style of dress for myself is a source of feeling both secure and confident. I think security and confidence need to be accumulated in life, and my choice of clothing can be the basis for my accumulated confidence.

Many ethnic cultures can also be seen in my designs, among which there are three ethnic groups from China, Han, Tibetan, and Yi. I chose to include elements of Chinese traditional clothing in my collection because they bring me confidence that radiates from the bottom of my heart, and I am very proud every time I wear traditional clothing. The strength of the nation is also a source of confidence for people, so now you can see young people in traditional dress everywhere on the streets of China. People incorporate traditional clothing into their lives, and this helps to pass on their country's national culture, so this is an opportunity for me to incorporate cultural elements.