In her latest collection, ‘A Different Place and Time…’, designer Claudia Li revisited the DNA of her brand through the lens of who she is now, from the shapes to the details that always felt most natural to her.
‘A Different Place and Time…’ is about reconnecting with the past without being stuck in it, and Li described it as flipping through old memories and rewriting them with more clarity.
“There’s a dialogue between memory and the present moment,” said Li, as she played with silhouettes she used before but shifted the proportions, making them more assertive and unapologetic.
At the same time, she mentioned that there was a sense of softness running throughout the collection, balancing the remembrance of the past while also moving forward.
“Rather than new technology, it was about reworking traditional methods more exaggeratedly. Gathering, pleating, and twisting, but on a larger scale, with more intention behind how they interact with the body.”
For the collection, Li worked with a mix of embroidered tulle, sequins, cotton, velvet, and denim, along with a few speciality fabrics from Italy, Spain, Japan, and Korea.
The choice was about contrast, dense and structured against light and sheer, to give the silhouettes more presence and range. Every look carries equal weight, and together they tell the whole story.
“This collection feels more deliberate. It’s grounded in the signatures of the brand but reimagined with the confidence of time and distance.”
With NZFW being her first show in New Zealand and her first runway in three years, Li felt inspired by the new energy that was more intimate and more connected.
“I want the show to capture that feeling of returning home while also celebrating growth.”
