Gender fluid

Fashion designer Vincent Li has always been creative. His first creative expression came in the form of dance.

"I love dancing. I danced from kindergarten until I was in junior high school," said Li.

"But my dad didn't like a boy pursuing dance as a career. I applied for art school, and the night before I went to audition, I had a huge fight with my dad. After that, I just stopped dancing and focused on my studies."

Not having a clear direction in his life, Li decided to go into the more stable IT industry after graduating with a telecommunication degree from Tongji University.

But his inner rhythm couldn't be silenced.

In 2000, he joined a boy band, initially in a one-off performance but then stayed on and quit his full-time job.

His parents were not happy when they found out a few months later, but there was not much that they could do about it.

"I had to live with the manager and the rest of the members in their place and could not go home. The only time I was allowed home was during the Lunar New Year. We practiced every day," Li recalled.

"After that experience, I understood how the industry worked and I didn't think it was right for me. I didn't like living in a closed environment with no privacy and no freedom.

"Everything - what we were going to sing or do, what kind of hair and makeup - was directed by other people. I didn't want to live the rest of my life like that."

So the then 22-year-old decided to study information systems abroad and moved to Melbourne. He then continued working as an IT consultant for a few years.

"I didn't really think about doing anything else. It wasn't in my mind back then, probably because I still lacked confidence. But being overseas changed that and I became more independent." Li enjoyed studying abroad as the teaching method was different. That gave him a different perspective about the world and himself and increased his confidence.

But it was also not the lifestyle that Li was looking for, so at 30 he changed his career path once again, this time settling on fashion.

"Fashion design had never entered my mind before because I didn't learn drawing when I was young, so I didn't think I had the skill for it. But I love shopping. Since I was 18, I have been spending all my pocket money and salary on clothes and shoes."

He recalled that he would spend his lunch breaks and off hours walking around the nearby shopping mall every day.

Having finished a part-time garment construction course, Li decided to give up his IT career and start afresh in Hong Kong, having joined his partner in the city.

He called himself "naive" at that point in his life but was glad that it ultimately led to him establishing what he has today.

After learning the ropes from a local seamstress, he studied fashion design at Raffles International College.

An internship at JW Anderson in London gave him insight into how a fashion business was run. At 35, he was the oldest person there - even older than the designer himself.

"After a while, I felt that there was so much knowledge I was lacking, and I thought it was necessary to have a formal education and training. That's how I decided to look into universities in Hong Kong."

Li launched his eponymous brand in 2014 and his first collection in 2015. He found that his designs best resonated with the international and especially the Asian market, so he moved back to Hong Kong in 2019.

At his first show at the Shanghai Fashion Week, he found he did not even have to explain his vision - a complete opposite to when he was in Australia.

"Vincent Li is somewhere you look for unique pieces. It is for the people who are trying to connect with their clothes. It does not have a specific gender and is from our experiences," said the designer.

"We don't want to put a lot of definition into how one piece of clothing should be. We like to push the boundary a little bit. Every new collection is a new chapter because we want to surprise the customers and also share with them what we are thinking and how we feel about what is happening around us."

A case in point is the 2022 autumn/winter collection, inspired by the pandemic. To counter the uncertainty and depressive mood, Li decided to create something energetic that spells hope for the future.

Sustainability also plays a part through the use of innovative materials such as eel skin leather and Naia acetate.

Titled Rock & Skin II for the Chinese word for break (po), the artist hopes to break stereotypes of functionality and gender in his designs - something that calls back to his childhood when his interest was deemed not masculine enough. "That is everywhere, it is the whole idea of the brand," he said.

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