Taking in fittings and model castings, backstage show-day chaos, and the wonders of Soho and Shoreditch nightlife, celebrated young Chinese designer Xander Zhou documents his intimate experience of debuting at the inaugural London Collections: Men. Exhibiting his minimalist take on menswear in the capital for the first time, the Beijing-based aesthete moved into the illustrious St. Martins Lane Hotel a month before fashion week and set up a temporary studio in the West End to finish the preparations. The designer has shown 11 collections in China, launched his eponymous label in 2007 and has dressed leading celebrities like actresses Zhou Xun, Fan Bingbing, actor Chen Kun and Edison Chen. Zhou closed the Friday evening of London Collections: Men with Fleurdelism—his spring/summer collection of deconstructed silk suits and paneled satin T-shirts, inspired by boy scouts and lilies. “Design is an international language; it doesn’t matter where you’re from, it matters what you do,” he explains. “My generation’s background is very complicated—I was born in China, I studied in the Netherlands, I came back to China again. I travel a lot so I’ve seen many things, and I think this generation of Chinese young people is more confident to share its ideas with the world.”

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