Meet YI DING | Womenswear&Knitwear designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with YI DING and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi YI, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Balance plays an important role in my life，I’m used to looking for inspiration in daily life, so rest time and work inevitably blend together. Balance is like a seesaw in the park, and artistic creation will also gain nutrients from the flash of inspiration in ordinary life. Therefore, I am used to blurring the boundaries between life and work, and gain joy and growth in the process of happily seeking inspiration.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Fashion as a container of body, which has artistic and commercial considerations. Designers create through different entry points, and reflect their thinking, values ​​and aesthetic awareness of the world from their works. For me, the meaning of fashion is to create dreams for the world in a more product-oriented language, to expand my inner voice and empower my faith through the help of business.
We live in an era where hopes and dreams need to be conveyed. Beautiful clothes can not only bring a good experience to customers, but also become women’s armor, giving them more confidence and courage in the busy pace of life.
I always used material creation methods to depict imaginative slices of women in my heart. Interesting colors and textures, concise silhouette language and rich innovative fabric expressions are combined. My design concept starts from material recycling and gradually shifts to the development of innovative fabrics, combining craftsmanship, cultural heritage and modern vision, striving to provide more possibilities for future fashion.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
From Florence, Italy, I moved to Paris for my undergraduate studies and now I am studying for MA program. Living in Europe has reshaped my attitude towards life. If my friends need to travel to Europe, I will not recommend them popular attractions, but rather tell them what it is like to live in Europe. Then they naturally appreciate the charm of the journey by experiencing the local indigenous lifestyle. Slowly, leisurely, without destination, but you will encounter unknown surprises inadvertently on the street corner

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
After a four-year study in Italy Florence, I am gradually clear about my desire to further develop in the field of female clothes，now I’m studying knitwear design in IFM Paris. In addition to basic lectures, I attended lots of commercial and art projects and own rich experience in international competitions and interdisciplinary cooperation. From Center for Cross Culture Exhibition to Milan Fashion Week, from on- site handwork pop up to Fashion blogger, from international competitions to in-depth exploration of minority culture, from Vans China’s artist remake project to Hermès knitting cooperation. I express my sustainable fashion idea through different media. In addition to creating female identity and personal aesthetics, I want to make more people feel the glamour of sustainable fashion.

Website: https://www.notjustalabel.com/yi-ding

Instagram: melody_yiii