Pronounce, the Chinese fashion label subverting masculine stereotypes

For the co-founders of menswear label Pronounce, whose androgynous collections defy categorization, the headlines belie an rising actuality among the country’s youth. In point, Chinese-born Yushan Li and Jun Zhou see a “disconnect” between official attitudes and what’s taking place at ground amount.

“When I was young, equivalent conversations have been also occurring,” he included. “Masculinity and the plan that boys need to have to be males — these subject areas have always existed in our Asian lifestyle.”

Even though deemed a menswear label, Pronounce usually displays its gender-neutral layouts on woman models. Credit score: Courtesy of Pronounce

Pronounce may well be greatly considered a men’s brand name — even starting to be, in 2019, the to start with Chinese label to phase a runway display at Italy’s most prestigious menswear occasion, Pitti Uomo — but the pair would not design and style with a particular demographic in thoughts. Alternatively both equally male and feminine products are used to showcase their loose-fitting nonetheless structural creations, which have been produced to be worn by any one “who is curious, who loves new and desirable stuff, who wishes to be confident,” Li claimed.

Bridging worlds

As perfectly as its progressive angle to gender, Pronounce’s attractiveness in Europe attracts from its founders’ means to bridge the aesthetic divide involving East and West.

Having both of those researched in London right before launching Pronounce in 2016, Zhou and Li headquartered their label concerning Shanghai and — before the pandemic struck — Milan. With Zhou drawn to Italian tailoring heritage and Li a lot more targeted on Asian crafting (“that is why we have a great deal of arguments,” the latter joked, “but we obtain a balance at the close of the working day”), the pair have recognized a reputation for incorporating Chinese influences into their work.

The well-known Terracotta Warriors are amid the Chinese themes that Li and Zhou have included into their types. Credit rating: Courtesy of Pronounce

Their Spring-Summer time 2020 collection, for instance, noticed visuals of the country’s legendary Terracotta Warriors printed on outsized turtlenecks and huge-legged jeans. But nods to their homeland are usually subtler and expressed via shapes, patterns or elements, from woven bamboo vests to modern-day iterations of the “Mao suits” greatly worn in China immediately after the country’s communist revolution in the late 1940s.

In their layouts, the duo has played with the proportions, strains and sleeve lengths of Mao suits for successive collections. Variations have come in pink with enlarged collars or embroidered with sensitive gold thread. Other interpretations of the tunic saw Li and Zhou use fishnet fabric to expose models’ skin, or cinch the clothes at the waist just before buttoning them up with butterfly-shaped fasteners.

“We are truly obsessed with Mao satisfies,” Li stated. “We believe individuals who dress in them seem really handsome, really charming — the silhouette, the emotion when they are worn, the seriously positive electricity.”

A up to date consider on the “Mao fits” widely worn in China following the communist revolution. Credit history: Courtesy of Pronounce

Dubbed “Modern Nomads,” the venture was informed by the robes and outerwear discovered on the Tibetan plateau, and the pair’s vacation to Interior Mongolia, exactly where most of China’s ethnic Mongol minority live (going to Mongolia by itself, or Tibet, was ruled out because of to pandemic-period vacation constraints, Li said). Following spending time with the region’s nomadic communities and buying regional textiles for reference, the designers put their personal spin on rugged, textured garments built to weather conditions hard problems.

An overcoat from the label’s new assortment, “Modern Nomads.” Credit score: Courtesy of Pronounce

By reinterpreting what they observed in a gender-neutral model, the label’s founders hoped to perform on Chinese stereotypes that connection nomadic cultures with commonly masculine traits.

“The gentlemen are super sturdy, tremendous challenging,” Li claimed. “But we uncovered that the Mongolian lady are truly rough as very well. Even participating in with the tiny little ones, we saw they experienced started out (increasing animals) and making properties. It can be beyond gender, over and above technology — it really is section of their DNA. For those people of us who are living in metropolitan areas, it is really so different, and they experienced this kind of a big affect on us.”

Averting cliche

In spanning visual languages, Pronounce’s challenge is, partly, obtaining Asian motifs that are familiar sufficient to resonate with world wide audiences devoid of veering into stereotypes.

“This is a matter we talked about from the starting of our brand name,” Li stated. “How to get rid of cliche, or to have our own (get) on all those seriously renowned styles.”

For this cause, he added, the manufacturer has steered very clear of typical clothes like the qipao, the kind-fitting dress greatly affiliated with China in the Western creativity. “We could not find a answer and you should not have (a one of a kind interpretation) of that fashion nonetheless,” Li stated, “so we haven’t touched it.”

Pronounce’s current collaboration with Puma was encouraged by the historic Pumapunku temple advanced in Bolivia. Credit: Puma

“It really is not like, ‘We are Chinese designers, so we have to do this form of type,'” Li claimed. “It is really more that we have really solid inner thoughts about some thing, and then we have that arrive out.”