#FengChenWang is all about stories. The Chinese-born, London-based designer's collections almost always draw on her own life experiences, and those of her family and friends. The same is true for her collaboration with Levi's, which draws on the story of an iconic garment: the 501 jean.
Visiting Levi's archive in San Francisco in March 2018, Feng noticed how different models of the 501 related to different groups of people, and how the wear and wash of each pair related to a specific person and the life they lived.
When it came to reinterpreting the 501, Feng looked at six different models from throughout jean's history: the original 501 from 1873, the Cowboy jean from 1933, the Red Tab jean from 1937, the WWII jean from 1944, the Post-War jean from 1947, and the Zipper jean from 1954.
The result is a bold amalgamation of these designs, which have been spliced together through – in her words – "a layer by layer approach". Referencing all six pairs, Wang has created a sartorial biography of the 501, narrating the jean's story from its 19th-century origins through to its post-war evolution and the present day. Her design at once historical and futuristic, reflecting her own innovative aesthetic.
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fengchenwang.com
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