EDGY DRIVE: Chinese fashion designer Feng Chen Wang on Thursday unveiled a custom design of Audi’s five-door lift back model A7L as part of her debut collaboration with the German luxury automobile maker.
The car, in white, is fitted with embossed exteriors showing deconstructed shirt parts, including a front gathering detail from 18th-century shirting, detachable shirt collars and cuff details from the 19th century, knots and neck details from Chinese shirts, and shirts adorned with Audi’s signature honeycomb front grille motifs.
According to Wang, who has made a name for herself in Paris by bringing Chinese traditional culture into the contemporary wardrobe, the car took three years to make, and she wanted the model to reflect the feeling of breaking the boundaries between East and West, and genders, as she has done on the runway since 2016.
“The idea of a shirt exists in both Chinese and Western culture. It’s a gender- and time-transcending wardrobe staple. To me, there is no better way to approach an item with infinite possibilities through a deconstructed lens,” said Wang.
As for the color of the car, the designer said she borrowed this concept of blank-leaving, commonly used in Chinese paintings, similar to minimalism’s less-is-more ethos.
Feng Chen Wang with a custom Audi A7 designed by her.
ZhongZhiYan/Courtesy of Feng Chen Wang
Following the debut in the garden of a Western-style mansion in downtown Shanghai, the custom A7 model will go on display at the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition from Friday. Wang is Audi’s first Asian fashion designer collaborator in its 116-year history.
After that, the custom model will tour major cities across China to showcase Audi’s ambition in forging a closer tie with the nation’s fashion-forward audience.
In addition to the car, Wang has designed a limited-edition four-piece apparel and accessory capsule for Audi. It includes a white shirt with patterns inspired by Audi’s signature honeycomb grille, a 3D printed bag, a bolo tie, and a keychain.
The Audi collaboration marks Wang’s latest achievement in the realm of brand partnership, having launched a sold-out co-designed capsule with Chinese star Victor Ma and Japanese American musician Caelan Moriarty at ComplexCon Hong Kong last month.
In May, the designer will travel to Japan for a pop-up at the Hankyu Department Store in Osaka as part of a Sino-Japanese strategic partnership led by the Shanghai Fashion Designer Association and the Council of Fashion Designers Tokyo.
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