LI NING:Remake and Recreate

by Zhong Mengxia

For a classic Chinese sports brand， how to precisely portray Chinese youths image today， obviously， it is a super complicated question. However， when you really down to earth to observe and understand younger generation， and you can get a conclusion easily， that is， the understanding of young people in trend and lifestyle is global thinking， full of personality and confidence.

From New York and Paris to digital show last year， integrated with sports DNA and fashion culture， LI NING won a lot of young peoples hearts by its exquisite designing and everlasting creativity， and it also stood in the middle position of international stage. April 4th in Zhengzhou， Henan province， themed as “WU CHUANG WU YI”， LINING 2021 AW collection arrived as promise.

How to interpret “WU CHUANG WU YI”？

The word with great oriental wisdom origins from Li Nings understanding of creating， which is providing fashion more possibilities through selfthinking and create. When night comes， in the center of the show， a futuristic ancient pavilion building rises from the ground. With the lights and music， fashion models wearing Li Nings new season clothes entered the audiences vision， and the show began.

Remake

The most intuitive feeling of the whole series is strong deconstruction and reorganization， and this show is an experiment of Li Ning. This includes the reorganization of classic styles， traditional crafts and clothing patterns.

Many classic styles of Li Ning was remade in this show. Designers combined their sports genes with styles of different time by matching different categories and materials， such as traditional suits and coats with silhouette dresses.

Also， designers reconstruction of Chinese traditional crafts is also the highlight of this show. For example， in the splicing of suits， the elements of ethnic minorities accumulated by designers can be seen， which makes the traditional culture blend with the modern style. Denim clothing has also been added with some elements of traditional hand-made cross stitch and mural paintings.

Create

Shoes have always been the most anticipated part of Li Ning. This time， Li Ning not only refurbished some classic shoes， but also integrated the interpretation of young peoples sports lifestyle. Inspired by skateboarding， skiing， outdoor camping and other lifestyles， Li Ning created some brand-new footwear products by Remake.

“ALS” shoes adopts the usual knob lacing system in ski equipment， and uses the claw-like wrapping structure of middle layer and knob to bring people the experience of easy putting on and taking off. “Wudao 2 Futuristic" shoes， which also draws inspiration from ski boots. The wool-filled material of snow boots on the vamp is very rare in sports shoes.

Integrate

Today， in the era of information explosion among the international community， the convenience of culture spread also makes the world fashion gradually alike. In this context， brands that inherit the local traditional culture become very precious. Since 2018， Chinese characters have been introduced as the main logo of Li Ning， and Li Ning has truly brought Chinese culture to the world. In this design， we can see that designers have absorbed the treasure of 5，000 years of Chinese civilization， and extracted traditional patterns to enrich the connotation of itself.

Hong Yuru， designer of LI NING， said， "I think China should have a brand that can really make a sound on the worlds fashion stage. This is what we have done in recent years." Wang Zelian， also a designer， said， "We have been studying Chinese traditional crafts， and China Li Ning has the obligation to do such a thing. This time， we visited some ethnic minorities and found many interesting culture. For example， Miao people will add some new handmade embroidery， totems or patterns to the embroidery given by the previous generation， and then pass them on to the next generation. We will not copy traditional crafts directly to our clothing. We have also conducted many experiments in the design process. The spliced hoodie is a result of our exploration."