Bingjin Zhu, fashion design.

I started off my journey in fashion as a pattern maker. As a pattern maker, I learned to build a photographic memory and a visual way of picturing the world. One day I was sewing a jacket, I tried to change the shape and color of the pockets and collar. But it turned out really bad. That was the moment when I realized how important composition was, and I should not only know how to make clothes but also know how to make clothes beautiful while being functional.

I design for a specific group of people. I call them LADIES. It doesn’t mean from a gender perspective, I believe they are the kind of people who believe in soft power. My job is to let them know they are special, I met so many ladies in my life, they are vulnerable but powerful, they work hard, believe in themselves, and are very calm. I really want to portrait, dress up this kind of people.

I believe the brand BING is a special brand. We are inspired by LADIES, work with ladies, design for ladies, and donate to ladies. Part of our profits will be donated to the womankind. It is an organization for empowering women, and we would happy to be part of this organization to show our respect to our muses, customers, and our team.

I hope I can bring the spirit of calmness to the world of fashion. The world is in crisis, where people are scared, anxious, and vulnerable. I think it is really important for us to go back to the exercise of learning how to be calm and believe in ourselves, no matter what kind of jobs we are doing, which positions we are. As a brand, we celebrate the power of softness, the power of calmness, and we hope our belief can make people feel better.

My dad is a wood sculptor. Growing up with his artwork, his sculptures are basically all my toys in my childhood. Those sculptures are really big, hard and dedicate. Unlike other kids playing fluffy and soft toys, my childhood doesn’t feel that way, it feels hard, heavy, and I think that experience influenced my personality, how I see things and how I portrait people in my life.

As I mentioned, during childhood, I witnessed my dad, a dexterous wood sculptor building traditional Chinese fictional characters. Inspired by my dad, a sculptor in his local community, I was interested in the idea of interaction and interchangeability between 2D and 3D formats. As a fashion designer, I see my designs in the format of 3D sculpture, as wearing of the 2D cloth­ing pieces serves as the most natural 2D-to-3D transformation process.

My most fond memories of growing up comes from my grandparents’ backyard of in a rural, coastal village in Southern China. Fishing from my grandparent’s balcony facing the sea, I used to think of this feat as common, until when I move to NYC, where I started off my career far away from my rural home.

Wining this price means better opportunity and platform, I really hope BING’s concept can reach out to the ladies I am inspired to and I hope my idea can comfort them a little bit.

To honor my mother and the power of softness that she stood for, I selected jersey and horsehair canvas as the main textiles used in this collection. Softness and closeness to wearers that jersey creates is supported by horsehair canvas which brings structure, support and function to the tailoring of the clothes, resonating with the theme of this collection.

Inspired by my father, I focused on the idea of interaction and interchangeability between 2D and 3D formats. As a fashion designer, I see my designs in the format of 3D sculpture, as wearing of the 2D clothing pieces serves as the most natural 3D transformation process.

In order to emphasize this idea, I used 8 large pieces of horsehair canvas to set the foundation of structure for my clothing, then layered on with draping on model’s body. I chose jersey as my fabrics, as the softness of jersey could handle heavy duty horsehair canvas, demonstrating the power of jerseys and the power of softness.

These days, I think how to make your people comfortable is the biggest challenge. The world is in crisis, people are scared, anxious, and vulnerable. I think it is really important for us to go back to the exercise of learning how to be calm and believe in ourselves, no matter what kind of jobs we are doing, which positions we are in. As a brand, we celebrate the power of softness, the power of calmness, and we hope our belief can make people feel better. I hope I can bring the spirit of calmness to the world of fashion.

I really like the idea that we can transfer ideas, concepts, voice into products, and by selling our products. We comfort people and inspire more people in a way. I also like the perfectionist of fashion designers, who look at every single detail and care about a tiny seam, a single stitch, in order to generate the most perfect product for our customers.

When we talk about China, it is more about made in China. I hope eventually it will be innovated in China.

In the coming years I believe virtual events such as runway shows and collection launch events will be a more dominant presence in my brand. Despite the forced adoption of this virtual trend due to the pandemic, I believe digital events will help generate additional marketing opportunities and identify different ways to enhance the overall experience and maximize the potential for those participating for my brand. I am not saying in-person events will be obsoleted and abandoned. I actually do not anticipate that in-person events will fade from our future calendars. Instead, I see virtual and physical events working together in tandem. This is why I participated in and was selected for the Virtual 360 Runway by CFDA where I get to feature and showcase my collections virtually with creative freedom in terms of presentation and showcasing I’ve never experienced before. I believe virtual presentation will be my brand’s future.

Our virtual runway show: https://runway360.cfda.com/designers/bing/soft-sculpture

Keep playing and keep trying.

I think it is better to explore by themselves.

As I mentioned, on my website, I featured my story with my grandma, she is a typical Asian ladies, she dedicated herself to the family instead of being a successful woman. In my memory, she would always smile and calm me down whenever I am upset or impatient. But behind the softness there has always been power- grandma was the one who held the whole family together, through ups and downs. When building this collection, I was honoring her soft, yet powerful mom, her power of softness.

I am just keeping on learning, if there is a moment I am really successful, I believe I will share it.