Yang Li

Yang Li is a Chinese fashion designer based in London. He currently is the creative director of Shang Xia. Early life Li was born in Beijing and resided there for the first 10 years of his life. After moving to Perth, Australia at the age of 10, Li spent his isolated teenage years playing basketball and skateboarding, two sports whose style and expression through clothing were his first introduction to fashion. Music has been the most profound obsession of Yang Li numerous collaborations have resulted and Li has led the way in championing underground and cult artists. Career Li dabbled in music and briefly studied law to please his parents, but ultimately decided to pursue fashion. Upon receiving a scholarship to Central Saint Martins in 2007, Li moved to London to study fashion. After an internship under English designer Gareth Pugh, Li withdrew from the institution and moved to Belgium to intern under fashion designer Raf Simons. Following his experience described as "working in a creative kitchen", he launched his eponymous label in 2010. Li's first collection "Zero Hour", released in 2010, was shown through a short film in collaboration with filmmaker and photographer Scott Trindle, in which articles of clothing were cut and repaired in varying degrees, which he saw as an act of "subtle rebellion". He proceeded to release three more collections before his Fall/Winter 2013 Paris debut women's collection, a show dubbed "phenomenal" by Vogue. In 2014, he was shortlisted for the LVMH prize. CLCC SA, a Luxembourg fashion fund who had also funded Raf Simons, made investments in Yang Li in 2015. Li debuted his menswear line in January 2016 for Paris Fashion Week. In 2017, he launched his collaboration label SAMIZDAT.