Shanghai Fashion Week: AW25 trends from China

Almost 100 fashion brands - from up-and-coming designers to major fashion groups - presented their collections during Shanghai Fashion Week. The variety of styles was extensive, ranging from minimalist, casual to avant-garde. Some ingredients, however, could be found across catwalks. Here are six autumn/winter 2025 trends from China.

Fringe frenzy

Fringes evolved from a decorative detail to make a statement during Shanghai Fashion Week. Designer Xu Zhi, who is celebrating the tenth anniversary of his eponymous label this year, played with materiality and length. Shaggy fringed hems added texture to dresses and skirts, while flowy, floaty draped fringes created a sense of nostalgia and drama.

The elongated black fringes that adorned a black shirt and several capes, as well as some handbags in designer Mark Gong's AW25 collection, also created a sense of drama. Floor-length fringes spilling out from under the neckline of a Bardot top create and accentuate the silhouette of a red dress at Samuel Guì Yang's AW25 show.

Space shades

Label Weiræn found the inspiration for its AW25 collection in a distant world, somewhere between future and outer space. Colours from silver-metallic to frosty shades of white locate the outfits somewhere between tech and imagination.

Other labels such as Billion Devon or Vietnamese Lsoul also presented looks with a cosmic vibe, accentuated by bright lilac and grey tones. This comes as no surprise with Billion Devon, as the brand is also based on the imaginary alien girl Billion with her cat Devon.

Glam fur

Furry coats and jackets bestowed the looks at Mark Gong or RuirUirul with even more glamour, while the type of fur – hopefully fake in nature - varied. The same could be said about lengthy furry stoles, which could be seen at NMTG. For its AW25 collection, the label drew inspiration from the Evenki, an ethnic group living in Inner Mongolia and Siberia, and whose traditional clothing also includes elements of fur.

Stuffy chic

Many collections were more tailored and understated than before. Waxed jackets, structured plaid blazers and weatherproof outerwear are not worn by today's urban youth out of necessity, but as protection against the adversities of unstable modern life, as Private Policy's show notes point out. The label does not romanticise these traditional garments, but plays with dress codes through subversive details. A plain fabric dress with grenade pockets inspired by military uniforms is given a contemporary touch with sewn-on metal rings.

The Ao Yes label also transcended the formality of a grey coat inspired by military uniforms with a typical Chinese illustration of a stylised orchid. A cat hidden behind it softens these traditional references even further. In addition to weatherproof jackets, the label WMWM, meanwhile, offered chunky knitwear to protect against the adversities of weather and life. Delicate details such as a pink lace silk blouse can also be seen under the protective outer layer.

3D down

Various brands explored the sculptural potential of down apparel during Shanghai Fashion Week. At AWR, there were no limits to the silhouettes of the down jackets. The clothing brand Sanqiang, founded in 1937, presented striking x-shaped down vests for its 88th collection, and Jarelzhang also played with the shapes of a puffer jacket by slightly bulging the sleeves.

Mysterious earth

Two brands could hardly be more different. The Shanghai-based label Hemu designs clothes inspired by oriental traditions and Oude Waag is the label of Jingwei Yin, a graduate of London fashion schools who has worked for designers such as Haider Ackermann and Hussein Chalayan. And yet their colour palette overlaps in the deep, mysterious earth tones - but with very different effects.

At Hemu, they create an ancient connection to an imagined past, and at Oude Waag, the tones ground the eye, not distracting it, but drawing it to clever details and bold cuts. In Jarelzhang's work, on the other hand, the dusky nuances together with the asymmetrical cuts serve to explore the instability of perception, the shadow between reality and idea.