Meet Yayi Chen Zhou, the Spanish Chinese designer weaving immigrant stories and multiculturalism into fashion
One profile among the semi-finalists for the prestigious LVMH Prize 2024 caught our attention due to the designer’s multicultural upbringing. Yayi Chen Zhou, the founder of her eponymous brand Ya Yi, has navigated the complexities of cultural duality across Madrid, Shanghai and New York. Moreover, through her design and craft, she explores the experiences of Asian immigrant women, weaving their stories into her work.
“Growing up in a Chinese immigrant community in Madrid, I spent much of my childhood in their working spaces, usually Chinese restaurants,” recalls Chen, who lived in the Spanish capital until she was ten years old. This early exposure to cultural duality became the foundation of her creative philosophy, sparking reflections on the gaps between first generation immigrants and their descendants. “I feel like there are many uncertainties among immigrant women, and they made me reflect on what it means to be a woman with a multicultural identity and background in the world today,” she says.
With easy access to Spain’s rich artistic heritage, Chen developed a passion for fine art early on. “Growing up in Europe allowed me to immerse myself in art,” she explains. From the romantic brushstrokes of Velázquez to the surrealist forms of Picasso, the art around her influenced her aesthetic. Fashion, she believes, is merely another canvas. “I see fashion or garments as part of the medium through which we express ourselves, on the human body,” she says, underscoring her belief that fashion is a powerful storytelling tool.
Chen moved to Shanghai in her teenage years, then headed to Parsons School of Design in New York, where she refined her craft while working at fashion houses including Thom Browne, The Row and Area. “In these companies, I learnt to find the balance between art and design while creating collections in a commercial context. Each company taught me different aspects of building a brand,” says Chen, whose impressive portfolio ultimately allowed her to launch her own company in 2022. “At The Row, it was about finding the perfect fabric and cut, being very exact and sharp in making design decisions— because less is more. At Thom Browne, I learnt how to push the extremes of creativity in showpieces, while also narrowing down the same concept into a more commercial context.”
Currently based in Shanghai with a multicultural supply chain, she can pinpoint where her brand identity was formed. “At Area, it was really about teamwork, and it was almost the same size as my business today. I learnt how to communicate with different teams from various parts of the world and coordinate everything as a small business. It was an invaluable reference for my brand today,” she tells Tatler. “Most importantly, I had the chance to delve into who the real makers within the garment industry in New York were, especially the Chinese immigrant seamstresses. This is where I really decided to start my brand.
Ya Yi spring-summer 2025 show during Shanghai Fashion Week (Photo: courtesy of Jia Cheng Ou)
Her recent debut runway show at the spring-summer 2025 Shanghai Fashion Week, titled Silent Threads, marked a significant milestone in her career. Inspired by artisans’ lives and labour, it traces the historical journey of crafting techniques from China to Europe, in particular highlighting the often-overlooked work that goes on behind fashion. “As an industry, we really look at who the designers are—the spotlight is always on the runways. In my personal experience, I really want to look more into who creates the craft and our garments,” Chen says. “It’s so important [to acknowledge] the people I work with every day, from providers and suppliers to makers. I always want to pay homage to the invisible hands behind the scenes. That’s the ‘silent thread’.”
Presented against an installation consisting of Chinese rice paper, the collection features cape silhouettes that mimic the idea of armour, albeit of a romantic nature: roseshaped corsets embroidered with sequins, and linen blouses draped with handknotted fringes. Each piece tells a story, incorporating intricate floral jacquard patterns, flamenco fringes and lace inspired by the Spanish mantilla and mantón de Manila—shawls originally made in the Chinese city of Guangzhou and transported to Europe via Manila’s port in the 19th century. Another technique that embodies this travelling history is papiermâché, a craft from China that gained popularity in Europe for decorative arts.
Ya Yi spring-summer 2025 (Photo: courtesy of Jia Cheng Ou)
Ya Yi spring-summer 2025 (Photo: courtesy of Jia Cheng Ou)
Ya Yi spring-summer 2025 (Photo: courtesy of Jia Cheng Ou)
Chen describes her design process as an autobiographical research journey, consistently digging into her identity and family photo album to extract design elements. “I take it very personally; everyone has a different experience as an immigrant but we share many similar feelings and concepts about diaspora and identity. I focus specifically on female immigrants and working women as symbols of our beginnings. That’s why each collection looks at women from different cultures and their experiences throughout history,” she says. “It might not just be always focused on the immigrant itself but [more broadly on] the [movement] of cultures, people and ideas, and the concepts between the east and the west as to how they connect and how they conflict at the same time. In the end, it’s about how we tell our own story; but we want to find that balance to unfold this concept and expand this voice of us as a whole.”
After Shanghai Fashion Week, Chen’s latest designs were exhibited in Hong Kong as part of the 10 Asian Designers to Watch showcase by Fashion Asia Hong Kong, where she shared her upcoming projects with Tatler. Her vision extends beyond the runway; she is committed to advocating for immigrant women and telling their stories in different formats. Her documentary film project, It Is Not Spring Until All Flowers Blossom, aims to encapsulate the overlooked and objectified labour of Asian immigrant women in the western world, focusing on garment factory owners and workers within the New York garment production sector.
Ya Yi's 10 Asian Designers to Watch by Fashion Asia Hong Kong showcase (Photo: courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong)
Fashion and film are “parallel projects in my world, but [they run] at different paces. I think now is a good time for me to go back to that and finish it up. So that’s a big goal of mine—to premiere it in 2025,” she says. “Another goal is to go to Paris or [elsewhere in] Europe as a significant step into that market, which I want to become my next home.” With her focus on finding the beauty in diversity and the transformative power of creativity, the young designer is poised to leave a mark on the global fashion landscape. We can’t wait to see it.
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