British Fashion Anchor: Arisen Chung: My Fashion Life

Ariza Zhong: My Fashion Life

Arisan Chung, British fashion anchor, describes why she created her own fashion brand and the story between her and fashion during her growing up.

Contrast English collection

Updated in May 31, 2019, 02:28, financial times, arisen bell.

I have always been with the clothes. I used to draw my own "fashion magazines" and think about how to make new and fashionable neckties on the school uniforms, and get out of the "skirt" from a box of scarves. I think it will be my wish to do fashion work in the future.

At the age of 16, I became a model. At the time of signing the contract, I really imagined that a famous photographer would follow the champagne wine while sitting on a luxurious and comfortable Concorde to participate in various fashion shows around the world. However, the French have completely grounded the Concorde. When I was 16 years old, -22 was trying to realize the star dream, but most of the time I took the London underground. I found myself in a completely unfamiliar environment doing strange things: like wearing underwear in a snowy field with husky, or playing a fashionable haemostatic advertising film.

On the other hand, when I was a model, I went to school, and the broker was the equivalent of my parents and teachers. I am obedient to brokers. When it comes to exchanging money and interests, I tend to be in a position to ride a tiger. Even if the broker cares about me and supports him, don't forget that he is actually a product of brokers' buying and selling. Once I was taken to a director's hotel room for audition, and the other party asked me to strip off because I wanted to see what I looked like naked. I didn't say a word, naive that the agent who took me to audition would help me. I think that's why the model industry has become a high-risk profession. Behind the bright and beautiful surface, there are often dirty and disdained. The modeling industry is to create the perfect image and weave the illusory world, which is totally different from the real world.

In 2006, I became the host of BBC4 Music Festival Popworld. Suddenly, I had the right to speak and the economic strength to buy my favorite clothes. The TV crew looked like they went on their first date, and I wanted to wear two kinds of clothes at home or at concerts, not to dress up for a show. In a highly nervous working environment, calmness is very important, so clothes become my armor.

I always knew the great function and magical effect of clothing. As I am constantly advancing in my career, I have many good fortune. I have become a spokesperson for many brands, and even have a handbag named after my own name. Ironically, I ended up modeling more than I used to be when I was a model. But the important thing is to accept the modeling business as the top priority for women in the past and in the future. In the eyes of the public, women are always criticized by the world whether they are models, musicians or politicians. As a model and image spokesperson, I have to accept it calmly, and have to be "complicit". I think you all know that the metaphor of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is created by the film critic Nathan Rabin (Nathan Rabin) to describe such female characters: they only exist in the sensitive plays and directors' fantasies, which are used to teach the melancholy and affectionate young men to face countless secrets and frustrations in life and in life. "Pixie" She is often "different" and "funny", in essence, very friendly. I often feel that I am the "dynamic fairy fairies" in the fashion world.

I feel that my image is assigned by others, and I try every means to have the right to decide. I am always grateful to those fashion companies that encouraged me to write my own script or to be my own advertising director. They have benefited a lot from me. While other companies are constantly learning new skills, they also gain self-confidence: they begin to look forward to doing something in their own future.

In 2017, I decided to create my own fashion brand because I saw it as an opportunity to dress up for my own type of women. I was fed up with the way others were telling me how to dress up. The Alexa Chung brand was born in the studio of East London, aiming to design clothing styles that could not be found anywhere else - those clothes that could solve their problems once and for all. Joan Didion once wrote, "we tell our stories in order to live better." I want to tailor my own life story.

A self created company feels like trying to regain some autonomy in its own life story. I hope that other women will also get some ways to dominate their lives. Fans often ask me for the secrets of fashion dressing. Although I am very happy to answer, I feel that these problems have made a directional mistake. General fashion proverbs often imply that the other side should imitate a certain star or give pleasure to others. And I think: the key is to find the OK costume when you feel the most helpless, or put on the costumes that show you the most.

Nowadays, there are more and more platforms and channels for telling stories about life. Under the background of great changes in cultural concepts, the costumes do not seem to be the tools of life story telling, and the entire fashion industry has great influence. If I can design a better control of my own destiny for other women and make them feel alive, I will be very happy. If the fashion design is not suitable for you, then you can create your own brand bravely.

This is abbreviated version of the 2018 Oxford Union speech by arisen Chung. Ariza bell 2019 autumn and winter fashion show has been launched on London Fashion Week, held on February 14th -19.