MaKe: Designing “Useless”

Home-grown Chinese “Liyuan style” drew great attention around the world when China’s first lady， Peng Liyuan， accompanied her husband， President Xi Jinping， on his first state visit to Russia this March. As their plane touched down in Moscow， a Chinese designer’s international profile skyrocketed. Her name is Ma Ke， China’s answer to Jason Wu， the Chinese-American designer who rose to fame by dressing American first lady， Michelle Obama.

Specially designing clothes and accessories for Peng Liyuan’s four-country tour was a new terrain for Ma Ke. Backed by her own production team， Ma produced customized designs that meet the client’s needs while staying true to her aesthetics and values as a designer.

In 1989， then 17-year-old Ma Ke enrolled at Suzhou Institute of Silk Textile Technology （now merged into Suzhou University） in Jiangsu Province to study design and performance. After graduation， Ma was hired by a small apparel company in Guangzhou， Guangdong Province， where she began her career in fashion design. In 1994， she took the gold at the 2nd Brother Cup International Young Garment Design Competition with Terra-cotta Warrior collection. A year later， the 24-year-old was listed as one of China’s top ten fashion designers and ranked in the top five by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. In 1996， Ma Ke launched the label Exception de Mixmind and became the brand’s executive designer. During Ma’s decade of experience after college， she realized that chic designers were a dime a dozen， whereas designers of stylish clothes that were still practical for everyday life were considerably rarer. For Ma， “fashion” is far different from“clothes，” which she believes should be ordinary. “Today’s fashion is no longer about fancy appearances that follow trends，”she explains. “Instead， being fashionable should mean pursuing a return to the ordinary. Real luxury lies in the spirit a garment conveys， not a high price.”

The year 2007 was particularly a remarkable year for Ma， when she was first invited to present a line at Paris Spring/ Summer Fashion Week in February. Her collection Wu Yong/the Earth made her the first Chinese designer to show haute couture in Paris. “It seems that everyone is pursuing usefulness， which has become the prerequisite before acting. But most of the time， what is useful now will not be so valuable in the future. I have explored transforming the seemingly useless into useful， with the hope that people will no longer look to usefulness as the motive for action.” Ma Ke illustrates. Wu Yong literally means “useless.”

Having witnessed newly-rich Chinese people increasingly crave imported luxury fashion， some experts singled out “Liyuan style” as a good chance for native Chinese high-end brands to stand out. “I am looking forward to Chinese people finally identifying themselves by what they wear，”Ma commented， defining Chinese fashion as “clothes that identify one as Chinese.”According to Ma， inheriting traditional culture from the past and respecting the ecology for the future are important moral responsibilities that should fall on today’s designers. “Never exaggerate or go over-the-top for the sake of commercial success，” Ma stresses. “Be honest and have integrity； stay true to your soul.”

Even after becoming an overnight sensation， Ma Ke has kept a low profile and never provided a personal picture for the media. “I will continue living as usual，” she grins. “Neither fame nor fortune last long.”Actually， Ma’s peace of mind has also influenced her management of Wu Yong， a workshop that opened seven years ago but still lacks a designated store， market strategy or any goals to cater to trends.

“Instead of making a famous brand， I am devoted to cultivating Wu Yong as a non-profit organization，” she declares.“Nowadays in China， most non-profits struggle to survive； generally they subsist on donations. They can barely survive this way. I hope Wu Yong will become a successful model of a perpetually self-sustaining social enterprise.”