Re Shui: A Chinese Fashion Recluse Steps Into the Spotlight

The lore of Re Shui began in a rural village in China‘s Zhejiang Province, where a disillusioned fashion designer found respite by creating haphazard knitwear and deconstructed corsets with threads flying everywhere.

The reclusive fashion label, which will soon make its Shanghai Fashion Week debut, was started in 2008 as a passion project by Chinese designer Aiguo Cheng, who, in his past life, was a designer at JNBY, the Hangzhou-based fashion retailer.

After five years at JNBY, which Cheng saw as “working on the assembly line,” he decided to leave the fast-paced industry and focus exclusively on his personal brand, among other creative projects. In true Da Vinci fashion, Cheng also dabbled in architecture and sculptural works.

In 2016, Cheng began to develop a style that consists of intricate handcrafting, hand-shredding and the use of natural fabrics that painstakingly undergo post-processing techniques like dyeing or creasing.

Cheng likes to expose the creative process, literally. Loose threads that fly about vigorously in the wind decorate almost every garment, the inside lining often pokes out in random places, and cutoff sleeves are repositioned as dress pockets. In Cheng’s view, that’s how “clothes express their feelings.”

More off-kilter designs, such as a cotton-filled nose placed at the center of a plain T-shirt, beg the viewer to give it a hard squeeze, albeit it being a socially unacceptable gesture.

Intense stitching is something that Cheng is keen on exploring with his craftsmen. Similar to the boro craft at first glance, Re Shui’s uneven and winding textures actually hark back to an ancient tradition with roots in rural China, where children wore heavily stitched outerwear to fend off bad luck.

Framing his work as “anti-design,” Cheng makes way for accidental creativity that comes from none other than his seamstresses.

In Cheng’s mind, so-called creativity is overrated; garment workers can be just as expressive in their acts of labor as any serious artist. “I’m only their canvas,” as Cheng puts it.

Despite being a commited hermit, Cheng likes to share his creative output online. In an improvised fashion, Cheng documents his creative process against the background of his concrete box-style workshop, with sewing machines humming and groaning behind him.

“We see ourselves as perpetual machines in motion, creating a constant flow of energy, which we use to make clothes. We feel uncomfortable if we can’t do it every day. I say it’s our greatest motivation,” said Cheng.

After a digital showcase during the latest edition of Milan Fashion Week, Cheng will make his Shanghai Fashion Week debut this month. After finding initial success with a December pop-up at Labelhood, Cheng will work with Labelhood again on his runway debut.

The new collection will continue to evolve around themes of “endless mutation,” “hexagon” and “explosion.”

“Natural linen, yak yarn fiber and some basic play on mohair will be included,” said Cheng, sharing his latest adventures in texture exploration. “We’ve been working with linen for a while now. This time the breakthrough came from using a new pattern-cutting method, coming up with an unorthodox way to use the flat knitting machine while incorporating hand-weaving techniques. You will have to see for yourself.”

Apart from building a brand, Cheng would like to create a residential program at his home base focused on craftsmanship.

“We want technicians and craftspeople to come to Re Shui’s headquarters and create small projects so we can learn to create something more refined, more advanced,” said Cheng.