"Culture is the soul of design, design is the expression of culture, and the real value of design lies in the culture it embodies." Culture influences design, design creates a new culture, good design and successful design, never a source of water, must be based on the inheritance and nourishment of the roots of the excellent national culture, and developed in continuous integration and innovation. At the third China Design Summit held recently, Chen Dapeng, vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council and president of the China National Garment Association, said.
In Chen Dapeng's view, in recent years, mainland consumers, especially the younger generation of consumers, the spiritual value and cultural awareness of the nation are constantly increasing, which is not only an important social phenomenon in the field of clothing and fashion consumption in the mainland, but also an important symbol of consumer cultural consciousness and cultural self-confidence in the new era.
Culture is at the heart of fashion
"Nowadays, more and more designers and brands that embody the connotation of Chinese culture and life aesthetics are thriving and showing continuous activity and vitality. A clear cultural attitude, life proposition and aesthetic expression have become the key to these brands standing out. Chen Dapeng said.
"Design is the key means of industrial chain innovation and brand building, and it is a direct expression of product and brand culture." Cao Xuejun, a first-level inspector of the Department of Consumer Goods Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said, "Design and culture play a very important role in the transformation and upgrading of the textile industry. ”
According to Cao Xuejun, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism jointly issued the "First Batch of National Traditional Crafts Revitalization Catalog", there are more than 100 items of weaving, dyeing, spinning and embroidery clothing, more than 100 items of textile intangible cultural heritage, and traditional skills and designs such as brocade, silk reeling, and rolling and dyeing continue to show vitality in modern design. "Chinese traditional culture is the driving force of innovation, the foundation of Chinese brands, and the key force from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China'." Cao Xuejun said.
"Nowadays, through the value re-engineering of young consumers and designers, Chinese traditional culture has a strong contemporary significance and the value of human future, providing guidance for the innovation and creation of today's design and culture." Chen Dapeng said, "But at the same time, we must also objectively realize that the traceability of our culture today is contemporary innovation and reshaping in inheritance, not simply retro and return in concept and form." It is by no means a symbolic copy, but a manifestation of the spirit and style of the Chinese of the new era. ”
"Fashion design is not only an extension of the industry, but also a sublimation of culture; It's not just about today's development, it's about future prospects. Shen Chunrong, member of the Standing Committee of the Wujiang District Party Committee, secretary of the Party Working Committee of Wujiang High-tech Zone, secretary of the Party Committee of Shengze Town, and secretary of the Party Working Committee of China Oriental Silk Market, said that for the clothing and fashion industry, it is not only necessary to focus on design and chain ancient and modern, but also based on cultural history, inspire design inspiration, lead market demand, empower industrial innovation, interpret fashion with design, and help industrial development with fashion.
Cultural confidence empowers design
The mainland has a long history and cultural heritage, and in the process of modernization, as far as the garment industry is concerned, we need to inherit and carry forward the excellent traditional culture, be eclectic and innovative, and win the market.
"To achieve industrial upgrading and high-quality development in the garment industry, there must be an internal driving force, and this internal driving force comes from culture." Zou You, vice president of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, said, "Looking at the process of clothing fashion change in human history, it is not difficult to find that in each different era, clothing has typical epochal characteristics and develops with the development of the times. ”
"Design is always in dialogue with people." Zou You said that in contemporary times, consumers like a certain clothing brand, it must be that the brand has impressed consumers through its own design language and has been recognized by consumers, and the same or similar cultural identity will resonate between consumers and clothing designers and brands.
"All sense of identity ultimately points to cultural identity." Zou lobbied.
"The mainland traditional clothing culture is very exciting, and has its own unique and powerful aesthetic concepts and design elements, which is the most brilliant pearl in the world's clothing culture treasury. Traditional Chinese textiles, clothing and clothing are all particular about 'if there is no literary color into the times', and many of the traditional patterns can be borrowed from modern fashion design. Jia Xizeng, a professor at the Academy of Art and Design of Tsinghua University, said that at present, in the process of transformation and upgrading of the mainland clothing industry, Chinese traditional culture will play a very large role, especially for mainland clothing brands, Chinese traditional culture is a strong support for their establishment of product aesthetic system and aesthetic concept, which is also the basis for brand development and growth.
According to Zhu Shuai, researcher and doctoral supervisor of the School of Arts of Peking University and vice president of the Institute of Cultural Industry of Peking University, Chinese-style modernization provides a new choice for human modernization, which is complementary rather than replaceable. "The important principle and law of this choice is pluralism, not unification, and diverse aesthetics and expressions, rather than putting forward the so-called internationalist aesthetic paradigm and carrying out a monopolistic aesthetic expression." Zhu Shuai said, "Design aesthetics needs to establish a new era standard or law, and then fill the era design aesthetic emptiness after postmodernism." At this time, the traditional Chinese design aesthetics, which advocates cultural diversity and subject pluralism, should appear in an integrated subjective posture, thereby enriching the global design art discourse field and discourse system. ”
Zhu Shuai said that Chinese design is, in a sense, the epitome of Chinese modernization. "We must summarize the experience of Chinese design into a subjective Chinese design, discipline system, academic system and discourse system, so as to fully explore Chinese experience, Chinese style and Chinese wisdom, so that Chinese design has its own right to speak in the international design discourse field, establish its own discourse system, and bring new and unprecedented aesthetic laws of the times to the international design field." Zhu Shuai said.
"We need to cherish our culture as birds love their feathers." Li Xiaoyan, designer of the Golden Top Award and design director of Guangzhou Fangfang Garment Co., Ltd., said, "As a designer, you must pay attention to the things around you and the cultural roots of your design. In the design process, we must inherit our own culture and aesthetics. This is the responsibility of the designer and the pride of the designer. ”
Intangible Cultural Heritage Revitalization is not "copy and paste"
The rich intangible cultural heritage of the mainland is an important part of the traditional culture of the mainland. However, with the development of society, some intangible cultural heritage cultures have been marginalized in modern life, and some traditional crafts or cultural forms are facing the loss. Therefore, intangible cultural heritage needs to be revitalized, integrated with modern society, and become part of contemporary culture, so that people can better understand and inherit the charm and value of these intangible cultural heritage. At the same time, the activation of intangible cultural heritage can also make traditional handicrafts and cultural forms more modern and attractive, and bring new impetus to social and economic development.
"70% of the mainland's textile intangible cultural heritage is in the western region, and the activation of textile intangible cultural heritage must link the primary industry, the secondary industry and the tertiary industry to build an ecosystem and industrial system." Sun Huaibin, former vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, said, "This can not only change the overall appearance of the countryside, but also retain talents, attract talents to participate in rural construction, and participate in the inheritance and development of textile intangible cultural heritage." ”
"The focus of the work of revitalizing textile intangible cultural heritage should sink, and we cannot simply do some research on documents and cultural relics." Sun Huaibin said that professional researchers and designers should perform their respective duties, form a cooperation mechanism, do a good job in professional division of labor and cooperation, keep innovation, do a good job in the commercialization and transformation of intangible cultural heritage products, and let intangible cultural heritage products embark on the road of industrialization and market-oriented sustainable development.
According to Chen Wei, director of Sino-French Design Center and chairman of Yiga Cultural Development (Guangdong) Co., Ltd., today, the mainland's intangible cultural heritage is coming down from the top of the pyramid and has realized sinking and extending, and through the efforts of designers and enterprises, the activated textile intangible cultural heritage products will definitely have broader market prospects.
In addition, Chen Wei also said that nowadays, more and more international brands try to integrate Chinese intangible cultural heritage elements into their designs, but Chinese consumers have aesthetic fatigue with the superficial superposition of luxury goods and Chinese elements. "Today, mainland consumers are gradually mastering the right to speak in the fashion consumer market. If an international brand simply superimposes and copies Chinese characters and patterns onto products, Chinese consumers will not pay for this so-called design. Chen Wei said.
"Designers should conduct in-depth study and research on intangible cultural heritage, combine intangible cultural heritage with contemporary fashion design concepts, and let consumers feel the charm of intangible cultural heritage through their own designs." Han Qi, one of China's top ten fashion designers and brand design director of Pastoral Poetry, said.
"On the one hand, it is necessary to let the excellent traditional culture and the contemporary era build a historical echo of culture, form a resonance with the contemporary lifestyle and aesthetic value, and achieve the harmonious unity of form and god, beauty and use. At the same time, it is also necessary to have an open and contemporary mind and vision, not forget the original, absorb outsiders, face the future, form a fashion context and spiritual temperament supported by the excellent traditional Chinese culture, and without losing the attitude and expression of contemporary significance to the development of global fashion, reflecting our creation and contribution to the development of the contemporary fashion industry. I think this should be an important path for our industry to transform from a manufacturing power to a fashion powerhouse, and it is also an important mission for us. Chen Dapeng said.
Written by / Reporter Zhang Guidong
Editor / Danyang Wang