[Light and Night Event] LANYU x Light and Night Collaborative Event Story: Episode 01 || LANYU×光与夜之恋限时联动・兰倚线香 ：剧情01
This is a time-limited event from the collaboration of fashion designer Lan Yu.
Some bonus information: Lan Yu is one of China's new generation of designers and is regarded as one of Asia's most influential designers. Her design aspect is combining traditional Chinese Suzhou embroidery with haute couture. Her namesake brand has even made its name internationally, and is worn by international celebrities. You can check LANYU's Instagram here!
The event story also uses her personal characteristic and displays her passion for designing too, and it looks pretty fitting as far as I've read about her background, so I think it's worth translating this event to keep it a record. Of course, I believe there's still a fictional part of the story so please do not take this as a 100% representative of her! ^^
But today, it feels like the street cries from the merchants are extraordinarily noisy, with stalls of various sizes simply opening everywhere, with displays of fabrics of various colors and texture, making one to be unsure of how to select one.
My thoughts returned to last Wednesday, Sis Zheng Lin passed a wedding dress designing task to me.
After deciding the theme, I imagined some elements, studied a lot of documents and fabric sampling books to look for inspiration from them.
However, after searching for the fabric supplied internally within the company, I still can't find the ideal version that I wanted.
So as soon as the weekend hits, I rushed to the fabrics market immediately and search from store to store, yet I am still unable to get any findings.
Just when I was sighing quietly, a silhouette suddenly appeared before me.
A lady leaned forward slightly as she observes the fabric from the stall in front of her.
She's wearing a short jacket. The glossy fabric shines in a faint pearly light, setting off this lady's aura of elegance.
Isn't this the fabric in my imaginations?!
I suppressed the joy in my heart, and walked forward in quick steps to the lady's side.
You: Hello, sorry for disturbing you. May I ask about the kind of fabric your outfit is made of?
The lady placed down the fabric in her hands that she's looking at, and turned her gaze towards me, looking weirded out.
And as soon as I saw her face clearly, my heart was quietly in shock too--
Smooth, long hair, a delicate face, with a mature attire.
The image of this lady standing before me, is overly similar to the designer in surging fame within the recent years, Lan Yu.
Within two years after her graduation, she has customized haute couture wedding dresses for various celebrities. In terms of red carpet dresses, her various eye-catching designs have allowed her fame to reach overseas. I can always read her interviews and related articles about her.
In the mouths of those in the industry, she is someone extremely busy, traveling all around the world with full of business meetings, it seems like she's a complete mismatch from this bustling fabrics market.
I restrained my hesitation, and mustered up my courage.
You: Excuse me, are you the designer, Ms. Lan Yu?
This lady showed a curious expression without denying it.
Lan Yu: I am Lan Yu. May I know if you are...?
I handed my own name card to her.
You: Hello, I am Y/N, a designer new to the industry.
As her gaze scans over the name card, an expression of realization gradually appeared from her face.
Lan Yu: Y/N... Oh, I know! Are you the participant that designed the black chiffon top hat in the Warson Prize finals?
You: You know me?
Lan Yu: Your work has left a deep impression in me, some details in your designs are really ingenious. To me, you are a designer that has full of potential.
Her praises are extremely sincere, but besides feeling surprised, the confusion still lingers in my mind.
You: I have read some news about you, and I remembered that you are always busy in your schedule, why are you...
I didn't continue asking as I hesitated, but Lan Yu didn't seem to mind, only to smile and continued my line.
Lan Yu: Are you finding it weird for me to appear in this fabrics market? It has been my habit to stroll around this place since my university years. Back then, this place is like heavens to me. I can encounter any sort of fabric of ingenious workmanship at any corner.
Lan Yu: I really like such simple yet wonderful experiences, but it is inevitable for me to have to handle some complicated problems after entering the society. When my thoughts are overly messy, I will come to this "very first place". Making myself to purely become a designer.
Lan Yu expresses the reason she's here, and it feels like she has conveyed the words from my heart beautifully.
You: What a coincidence! I really like shopping in the fabrics market too. The feelings of slow explorations are indeed very enchanting, it's just like a treasure hunting game during childhood.
Hearing so, Lan Yu nodded in agreement, and smiling into crescent eyes.
Lan Yu: Right, your very first question was about the fabric of my jacket, right? I designed this jacket myself. The fabric comes from a niche fabric merchant in Belgium. Their information are stored in the computer in my workshop.
As she speaks, Lan Yu took out her phone and looked at the time.
Lan Yu: It's a little late, would you like to have a cup of tea at my workshop? I can pass you the contact of the fabric merchant, and we can also sit down while having a good chat too.
You: Of course I'd love to, thank you very much!
Following Lan Yu, we have arrived her workshop. With a wooden structure, the decorations are very classical, and a few snow-white wedding gowns are being displayed at the center.
Perhaps because it's a weekend today, there aren't much designers that are working right now. Lan Yu brought me to tour around her workshop as she quietly introduced it to me.
Wedding gowns is considered a more complicated niche in fashion design. No matter if it's in the university design course, or the master classes after joining the workforce, teachers will usually not explain them in detail.
And the current thoughts that I'm having right now are basically coming from the ideology from designing other outfits, so there is still a tremendous gap between me with designers that are specialized in designing wedding gowns.
Through Lan Yu's explanation, I have understood that they have segregated wedding gown designing into different processes. This can help their designers to spend their limited time and energy onto creation with their greatest extents, and avoid some cumbersome tasks that leads to low productivity.
If it's possible for me to learn from the teachers in Lan Yu's workshop, it'd probably be extremely insightful in wedding gown design, right?
Lan Yu: Y/N, what's wrong?
As if she has noticed my silence, Lan Yu gently interrupted my thoughts. I've made a determined decision, and looked at her intently.
You: Lan Yu, can I ask you for a sudden request?
Lan Yu: What kind of request?
You: Through the visiting earlier, I feel that your workshop is very professional in wedding gown design. And I have a mission to design wedding gowns at work too, and I can feel myself lacking in many aspects throughout the process. So, can I learn wedding dress design for a period of time here? I can pay the tuition fees!
I nervously waited for Lan Yu's response, but I didn't expect her to break into laughter.
Lan Yu: Why would you say that? You are a designer will full of creativity and ingeniousness. If you're coming to my workshop, it'd be a two-way exchange for us, and not a one-way learning session for you.
Lan Yu's hearty and attentive words are like a stream of spring waters, quietly bringing warmth as it gushes into my chest.
You: Thank you very much! I will definitely not let you down on this opportunity.
