Ziggy Chen
Ziggy Chen always catches our attention with his unique designs and edgy styles. We at Volatile had the pleasure of speaking with Federica Tattoli, the PR contact and press office manager for Ziggy Chen. Tattoli was warm and friendly throughout the interview as she gave some insight into Ziggy Chen’s inspirations, processes, and products.
Tattoli explained that the target customers who purchase Ziggy Chen clothing are usually educated adults, some younger adults aged 25-28, as well as many middle-aged adults from 50-55. Ziggy Chen customers also often have a creative side and work as architects, artists, and designers.
Ziggy Chen’s intriguing use of fabrics and textures contributes to the individuality of his outlandish designs. “He studied a lot regarding fabrics and textures. Usually, in every collection, he designs a special pattern for fabric that is made exclusively for Ziggy Chen. So every collection has a special pattern, a special fabric,” Tattoli said. “He loves to use different kinds of fabrics in his work.”
Many of Ziggy Chen’s products consist of a neutral color palette rather than bright colors. Tattoli explained that this choice of subtle colors is because Ziggy Chen is inspired by nature, real landscapes and architecture he has seen during his travels, and ancient Chinese paintings. “In every collection, he has a reference. He is very interested in the Song Dynasty and Song Dynasty artists, so he takes some colors from that period, and maybe from nature, so he makes natural colors,” Tattoli said.
Tattoli said that Ziggy Chen’s studio is in Shanghai, and he has a very small, close-knit team. She said that only a few retailers in the world have Ziggy Chen products. People can also purchase Ziggy Chen clothing from the website: ziggychen.com or from the physical store: Ziggy Chen Depository, which is in Shanghai.
For Paris Men’s Fashion Week SS22, Ziggy Chen presented his Inacgraphy collection, which was inspired by the subjects in classical paintings. There was a video presentation for this collection, which featured barefoot models wearing very dark, layered clothing and hats, dancing on rocks to moody music in dim lighting. Making this collection and video took months, according to Tattoli. “It takes some months to know the idea and the realization of the collection [and] the idea of the movie and the realization of the movie,” she said.
Ziggy Chen already has plans for the next Paris Fashion Week but will not share those plans yet. “Yeah, he will come up with a new collection for the new season, but we can’t reveal [yet]. And he will, again, be at the Paris Fashion Week; we hope to be there not only digitally but in person,” Tattoli said. Although we do not know exactly what Ziggy Chen will do next, we are looking forward to seeing what he comes up with through his impeccable talent for creating quirky, one-of-a-kind designs.
By Zoe N.