Fashion Shenzhen Spring 2015: Ellassay, Lizzy and Haiping Xie

The Fashion Shenzhen Spring 2015 collective runway show featured three of the Chinese city’s homegrown fashion brands – Ellassay (歌力思), Lizzy and Haiping Xie (谢海平) – in New York. Each had its own distinct aesthetic, from conservative luxury at Ellassay to fantastically mystical at Haiping Xie, with the intricate evening gowns by Lizzy serving as a good transition between these two collections.

Ellassay’s tightly-edited, sophisticated collection contained well-cut dresses, coats and pants suitable for the office and after-work cocktails. An ivory silk/linen sheath dress, refreshing in its simplicity, was followed by an equally quiet ivory crop top worn with loose-fitting white ankle length pants. (It is a feat to include a crop top outfit that does not shout for attention.) There was an overall air of feminine restraint: these were meant to be beautiful but practical clothes, not loud statement pieces.

*(all photos by Angela K. Hom / Meniscus Magazine)*

NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 07: A model walks the runway at the Ellassay show at Fashion Shenzhen fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Spring 2015 at The Salon at Lincoln Center on September 7, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz)

Designer Ren Xin of Lizzy then brought romantic glamor to the runway. In a collection inspired by the deep sea, there were no holds barred on the usage of sequins, beadwork and lace. One outfit was a literal mermaid gown: a form-fitting dress with sheer panelling and strategically-placed beadwork ending in a blue ombre cascade of fishscale-like ruffles. The copper-colored beadwork on the bodice and sleeves of a light brown ruffled dress was reminiscent of seaweed floating in the waves – in a good way.

A Lizzy evening gown by designer Ren Xin. (photo by Angela K. Hom / Meniscus Magazine)

NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 07: A model walks the runway at the Lizzy show at Fashion Shenzhen fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Spring 2015 at The Salon at Lincoln Center on September 7, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz)

Haiping Xie closed the collective show with a demonstration of robust creativity. Incorporating traditional Chinese motifs more commonly seen on porcelain souvenir vases in Chinatowns the world over, dragons and clouds wound themselves around airy silk and organza dresses made in said vase’s colors of blue and white, as well as a light tangerine reminiscent of a Buddhist monk’s robes. The most impressive gown was a grand floor-length organza number with multiple tiers of alternating blue and white pleats, giving the model the appearance of walking through waves in the ocean.