Generation and innovation of the knitting craftsmanship
Young Chinese fashion designer Dairu Ren was born and raised in China before moving to New York. She attended Parsons School of Design. Ren developed her specialty in all-gender wear in both knitting and crochet, with her talents in print and pattern design, color, and concept building.
Being surrounded by knitting and crochet in her home country, she started to learn traditional craftsmanship from her grandma when she was eleven. Dairu Ren’s knitting takes its inspiration from the process of creating stitches as much as the final product. It invites people to immerse themselves in the art form of details. She emphasizes the importance of the maker and handiwork in her work. Experimental and innovative, Ren’s knitting infuses her heritage with today’s advanced technologies.
The “Grandma’s horror stories” collection
The “Grandma’s horror stories” collection is about the horror stories her grandma told her from childhood. She extracts elements from each of grandma’s horror stories and explores different technologies and materials to balance practicality and artistry in her knitwear.
“The type of clothes you wear and the kinds of accessories you use to either jazz them up or tone them down says a lot about who you are, where you’re from, what you do, and how you feel about yourself and others. However, the biggest influence on my dressing style is my grandmother,” says Ren. Thanks to her grandma, she found her own dressing style. Her relationship with her grandmother is delicate. She respects her grandma very much, but she is also afraid of her. It was because of the horrible superstitions her grandma told her from childhood. In Chinese culture, superstitions are a part of everyday life. Like any other culture around the world, some traditional Chinese superstitions may seem strange, but they hold significant value. To keep their children safe, parents scare them with superstition.
By looking through her childhood photo album and comparing her previous and current styles, she found that her style was always colorful and playful. She always wore a set of matching accessories with clothes. Thus in this collection, she digs into the print and accessory design. Each story has matching accessories, from hats, necklaces, bags, and shoes. Simple silhouettes, but using various mixing textures and colors and patterns and proportions to build up different layers and visual interest, and personality.
The Multi-meaning of “R.E.N”
“R.E.N” is Dairu Ren’s surname. As a surname, Ren has two pronunciations in Chinese, Rèn means “any”, and Rén means “benevolence” or “humanity”.
The word “R.E.N” inspires her to resonate and link with people by telling her own stories. This has become of great significance to her. She redefines and highlights the ways that garments can connect humans; their impact on society, which allows fashion to be a conversation starter for complex social issues.
The practice of balancing practicality and artistry
Fast fashion is swallowing the fashion industry around the world. In Dairu Ren’s “Grandma’s horror stories” collection, she hopes to combine the exquisite handicraft of slow fashion with avant-garde design. This brings about the balance of practicality and artistry. She explores different technologies and materials, such as Macrame, beading, latch hooking, crochet, etc.
Sponsored by UPW Yarn, Dairu Ren uses yarns from UPW’s Recycled Series, which contain 30-60% recycled materials. Fully integrating different materials and traditional yarns, Ren’s knitwear is getting more innovative and experimental.
Fashion: Dairu Ren @_r.e.n
Photography: Ni Ouyang @rotten_avocadoo
Model: Susie Yan @ysqshiqi Shengmeng Xia
Makeup: Mitch Yoshida @mitchyoshidamakeup
Hair: Yukie Yamasaki @yukikie
Video: Min Soo Park @miiing_
Assistant Camera: John Valle @John.valle
Music: Martin Matar @martin_matter
Music Engineer: Lydia Tingxi Li
Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam
