Textile richness plays a major role for William Fan, one of the pillars of Berlin Fashion Week. Fan has become known beyond the borders of this city for his timeless designs that play with gender boundaries, styles, and Chinese culture. Fan is a fan of layering. He demonstrated this in his silhouettes, which have remained consistently wearable and multi-layered over the years, only now they have become almost aristocratic, with triple-layered collars, scarves, draped sleeves, pearl trimmings, and a very rich variety of materials. While many staples—flattering shirts, wide pants, strong coats—remained present, he complemented them with embracing down jackets, lined capes, leather pieces, and faux fur elements, which are popular with his customers, who braved a persistent cold front to attend his show.
Some of those friends and fans even appeared on the catwalk, which was visually modeled after his store. Fan regularly chooses to involve his community in the creation and presentation of his fashion. With his new collection, which he named “Ring the Bell,” he alluded to his beginnings, when he invested in a physical retail space tucked away in a backyard. True to the principle “If you know, you know,” he welcomed visitors there who, in turn, shaped the look of his designs. “We are not one type of customer, we are many,” Fan said as he walked backstage among his cast a few minutes before his show. “We differ in age, gender, body type, and style. There are many layers, literally, that come together here.”
