CHINA: Panda fashion tackles China's social issues

A Chinese artist brings social conscience to the fashion conscious. SCRIPT: Chinese artist Zhao Bandi brought controversy to the catwalk as International Fashion Week rolled out in Beijing this week. Street sweepers, beggars, corrupt officials and even the World Trade Organisation (WTO) hit the catwalk as the Bandi Panda collection strove to address China's unresolved social problems. Zhao's models, like his designs, were drawn from every walk of life as celebrities, models and everyday people shared the limelight. Drawing on his trademark panda for inspiration, Zhao's designs incorporated a healthy dose of humour, taking the sting out of his critical message. Zhao carefully arranged his catwalk line up, ensuring that contradictory characters were matched together. After a construction worker strutted his stuff on the catwalk, it was swiftly followed by a construction protester, a character who frequently appears in China refusing to leave their house after the area has been earmarked for redevelopment. China has seen several corrupted official scandals revealed over the past year, culminating in one senior officials execution. Zhao's official carried China's official red seal and left his mark on the controversial catwalk. Foreign influences also came under criticism as the WTO appeared bearing the well known Made in China stamp. Chinese products made the headlines earlier this year with a flurry of accusations over product safety from overseas importers. "I believe that after seeing this everyone will realise what is happening. There's no need to watch films or read a book about it, just watch Zhao Bandi's fashion show and the whole world will realise what's happening in China," said Zhao. Zhao and his pandas are famous for providing social and political commentary on modern life in China. His exhibitions have toured the world for 8 years tackling global issues of war, terrorism and disease. At the centre of every art piece is Zhao's toy panda, the national emblem of China, an evocative message for the Chinese people. Jin Le, an artist himself, is already a Bandi fan and was full of praise for this new venture. "He is drawing attention to the problems in China and he is placing them in the limelight: workers, migrant workers, street sweeper, even officials," said Jin. Outside the exhibition hall, Zhao had recruited around 40 students dressed as pandas to greet his audience. The student pandas entered into the spirit of the occasion and said that they were excited to be part of the art. These panda designs will probably not appear in next years fashion catalogues, but then, Zhao never intended them to. This is his debut into haute couture and Zhao said he hopes this show will inject some social conscience into the fashion conscious.

ITN Source | November 12, 2007

Tags:. .construction. .audience. .dressed. .debut. .centre