SPECIAL interview with designer

Han Feng

Celebrating life through fashion For New York designer Han Feng, life is worth celebrating in every possible way. The people she meets, the way she lives, the parties she organizes… Everyday life is the inspiration for one of the most colourful and distinctive collections on the American fashion scene.  Read more about Han Feng and see her work  View Han Feng's photos from the show Han Feng (pronounced “fong”) means cold wind. If it conveys the strength of the designer, it is at the opposite of her warm approach towards life and people. Her voice is filled with enthusiasm and liveliness and her interest in what others have to say is genuine. Born in China in 1962, Han Feng attended the renowned Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou (a city about two hours from Shanghai) where she studied graphic arts, painting and sculpture. When she moved to New York in 1985, the idea of becoming a fashion designer had never even entered her mind. “Everyone was telling me I should work in fashion,” she remembers. First, she worked at Bloomingdale’s as a salesperson and then for a fabric wholesaler. She started her career as fashion designer by producing pleated scarves that have since become her signature. And, in 1993, she presented her first ready-to-wear collection. “I don’t know how to sew or cut garments,” she admits candidly. “And I don’t really know how to draw.” But what Han Feng does know is how to play with colours and shapes and she understands what women are looking for. The designer is influenced by everyday life. “People I meet, things that surround me, but ultimately I design for myself. I ask myself what I need, what I want to wear.” Her collections are not trendy – “While everyone was doing black, I did colour” – and garments from each new collection can easily be matched with those of previous seasons. “My look is not about change, but about adding to what a woman already has in her wardrobe.” Her collections include sporty looks and eveningwear, dresses and coats, each piece elegant yet extremely wearable. Her collections incorporate fur, a fabric she is still discovering. “I love the touch and feel of fur but I am still learning how to use it,” she says. She has knitted sweaters, vests and scarves and made fur accessories and she is also trying out new techniques to experiment further. “I want to use fur in an unpretentious way,” she says. Her unpretentious approach to fashion appeals to a clientele largely composed of women who work in artistic fields – architecture, public relations, publishing, graphic design – and some high profile lawyers. “I’m always happy to see how a woman wears my clothes, how she transforms it, how she makes it her own,” comments the designer. Han Feng is best known for her use of rich, saturated colour. She artfully mixes red and pink, pale and deep blue, orange and bronze, apple green and dark green. The overall effect, the fabrics, the detailing, the shapes and silhouettes have a subtle Oriental feel but are firmly grounded in the Western world. “It makes me laugh,” she says, “when people say that my colours are Chinese. When I was growing up in China, everyone wore blue. And red was the colour for weddings.” After 15 years in the United States, does she still feel Chinese? “I feel in the middle,” she answers. “I feel I have a very old soul. I belong to an Ancient culture and I carry its lessons. But I have also become a North American. Listening to others, exchanging ideas, meeting people are essential to Han Feng for whom everything is about living better. “Having fun” is an expression that she uses constantly. And fashion, which she believes is theatre, is simply one way of having fun. Han Feng is also famous for the parties she gives in her New York loft. She loves cooking and carefully plans every decoration detail, again elegantly mixing the East and the West. “Entertaining is another way to meet people and enjoy their company,” says the designer who was featured in New York magazine as a “party artist”. Fashion, entertaining, decorating… For Han Feng, it’s all about “having fun” and enjoying life. “I’m not desperate to be successful,” she says of her fashion career. “I simply want to create and make things happen. Money does not bring joy. People are the source of happiness.”