333studio was one of five labels showing in the 15:30 slot on Saturday 18th February 2023 as part of “Fashion Scout China Presents” at Fashion Scout, London Fashion Week, with the show opened by a collective show of five designers presented by the Fashion Standards Committee. 333studio closed the show with a collection of designs in muted colours which portrayed the journey of a child from womb to birth.
Shanshan established 333studio in 2018 – she chose the name as the pronunciation of the number “3” in Chinese sounds very similar to her own name, and she wanted something straightforward and memorable. She had previously worked as Art Editor for Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire in China after college, then furthered her education in Canada, studying fashion marketing.
Naming both established and contemporary designers as inspirations (she mentions Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Yohan Serfaty, Emma Chopova and Laurel Lowena in particular), Shanshan says that although she takes note of seasonal trends and the designers and brands around her, she creates her own aesthetic, describing it as modern but with retro detailing.
The Fashion Scout collection came about while Shanshan was at home in lockdown for a number of months, the minimalist palette caused by the limited access to fabrics at the time. Shanshan says that she normally sources her fabrics from markets, and being unable to access them made it very hard for her to work.
The techniques employed by 333studio mean that each item of clothing can take a very different amount of time to finish. Some of the methods used are traditional, but with each garment being shaped by hand, each product is unique – the Fashion Scout collection features light cotton that has been worked at precise temperatures, making sure not to overheat and destroy the fabric.
For her next collection, Shanshan is again taking inspiration from the world around her – she is developing a collection inspired by people displaced by the Russia Ukraine war. If you’d like to keep up to date with her work, you can follow 333studio on Instagram or you can visit the online store.
All photographs are my own.
