Rebirth of cool
For the first range, the craftsmanship of Suzhou embroidery was applied to innovative fabrics. "It was our original intention to carry forward our culture to New York," says designer Chen Lijie.
Images of Li Ning's winning gymnastics performances at the 1984 Olympics have been printed onto hoodies and T-shirts, while the Victor 001 motif has been reproduced with minor changes to its silhouette. The range also includes an update on the company's first range of sportswear worn by Chinese athletes and Li himself at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, a reappearance which has caused quite a stir. The red-and-yellow color scheme, which was once compared to scrambled egg and tomato, shows new possibilities when its matched with black cigarette pants or a pair of well-designed white sneakers.
The future section focuses on street fashion, the philosophy of mix-and-match and futurism. It blends the past with the future by juxtaposing historical Chinese detailing with Western silhouettes to create an individual modern style and function.
With this range, much visual stimuli comes to the fore. On some products, the original Li-Ning logo has been rendered much less eye-catching or has been totally replaced by the Chinese letters of the brand name with the prefix "China".
