Soon, art and fashion colleges across the world will unleash their creative monsters into the wild. Often you will see the most liberated and fresh work from recent college grads before they become jaded by the industry, so I try to keep an eye out to soak up some of their creative optimism.
Yesterday I saw a child on the train clutching an Easter egg dyeing kit, and all the pastel colors on the box made me think of the work of Xiao Li. A graduate of the Royal College of Art in 2013, Li showed her extremely clever collection the same year. Taking her own handknit pieces she created molds. And from these molds, she made voluminous pastel forms in silicone with cable and knit patterns. In 2014, she showed at London Fashion Week for the first time (A/W 2014) and pushed the idea further by using latex instead of silicone and integrating it with mesh and creating shapely combinations.
There is still slight amateurish feel to her work, but that does not matter. She is one of the most clever of the new creative monsters out.
Xiao Li, 2013 | AllegraNior.com
Xiao Li, 2013 | AllegraNior.com
Xiao Li, 2014 | AllegraNior.com
Xiao Li, 2014 | AllegraNior.com