Funky, raw, and entirely her own, Yufei Liu (aka Fey-Fey) has claimed her own space within the fashion industry. Whether she’s referencing world-wide icons (I mean Hello Kitty, ofc), feminist translation theory, or tinkering with mechanics in order to create inflatable garments, every design choice Fey-Fey makes is both deliberate and awe inspiring, as her creative process is led by intuition.

An immaculate balance between the familiar and the uncanny, feyfey worldwide has been producing pieces with a conventional base (think helmets, cutouts, and purses), but distorting and transforming them through her own creative lens. Versatility is everything, as a utilitarian helmet becomes a wig, complete with long flowing locks and complimentary bald-spot. Fey-Fey channels anger and agency into her inflatable purses, as the built-in tech gives the wearer the opportunity to try both. Her punk approach to fashion and design extends far beyond the realm of the garments themselves, as even her website and digital zine challenge how the industry expects pieces to be presented.

There’s real emotion and meaning to be found in every collection, and tremendous foresight. Her FW 2018 collection featured items such as her hooded blazer – a fit that hadn’t been replicated until Coperni’s FW 2022 collection a few weeks back. Trying to make it in an industry so rigid and exclusive can be exhausting, but FeyFey has managed to channel all of her anger and challenges into a truly memorable and innovative body of work.

Hey Fey-Fey! How have you been doing?

Hi Coeval! Not bad! Everything is going slow for me, but it’s going.

I feel like life constantly goes through these dips – either everything is happening all at once, or nothing much is going at all. But steady progress is always worth it! I’m an enormous fan of not only your designs themselves, but also your presentation of them. Your digital zine showcasing your MA collection has the sleekness and feel of any editorial publication, subverted and elevated by the inclusion of a dice rolling across the page. Modeling your shop after the iPhoto app also makes it enticing to explore the entire page and see how deep into the collection you can dive. I feel like most of the time you don’t see a brand put this kind of effort or sophistication into their shopfronts or online portfolios – how do you think the pieces interact with how they're displayed, and what do you hope it communicates to an audience?

I am glad you like them. I have this big interest in making clothes, but I always think fashion that ends up with beautiful editorial images is quite boring and outdated. My practice is to create a sort of “contemporary fashion” – just like “contemporary art” – through which I wish to reject regulations, to step out of the idea of “beauty” or “fantasy”, and to feel more related to our daily life. I want to show this idea through the presentation as well. Like today we take so many photos or selfies with our phones. When you look at your images on your phone album, they are raw, unedited, but very real and belong to you. I want my shopfront to have the same emotional connection with the customers. All the product images are taken at home (sometimes just low quality selfies), showing the pieces in the same format as “your” private phone album. At least customers will not worry if the product doesn't look as good as when the model wears.

Hahaha but that definitely alleviates some of the anxiety that comes from online shopping sometimes. With retouching and studio lighting being industry standards, it’s always a concern that the piece you ordered won’t look exactly like on the website — which is exactly what you’re combatting. Speaking of presentation, your shows also have such developed concepts that I can only imagine attendance must be a completely enthralling experience! I think the one that sticks out to me the most is the opera show you hosted, Fashion to Suffer By. As a project meant to signify an official start-over of fey fey worldwide, could you walk me through your old view on fashion, what instigated this transformation, and the philosophy/approach you take now?

That show is my favorite show so far as well. “Fashion to Suffer By” firstly wants to say that my fashion is not to please other people – it’s aggressive. When it comes to me, I am suffering from fashion lol. I was obsessed with fashion because it’s very creative and very practical at the same time. However, the more I know about the practice and its industry, the more dragged I feel. Every process is not easy to do: from design, production, presentation to dealing with factories, models, retails, and, of course, I have to sell my designs… I keep questioning myself as to whether or not it is worth the effort, and if making fashion is meaningful when we live in a period of growing uncertainty. I was thinking about quitting all the time, but I just can’t. So this show is determination to me. Rather than thinking too much and hesitating, I prefer to just sell my soul to fashion and enjoy the suffering. lol

I think this is such a universal experience for creatives — your craft can bring you so much joy until you try to make a career out of it. Trying to find your place within it and make peace with the parts of the industry you disagree with can be challenging, but I’m so glad you were able to come to a resolution —even if it came at the cost of your soul :’( . Featured in both your Opera, your MA zine, as well as several other editorial publications, I need to take a moment to address your inflatable pieces. With themes drawing from feminist translation theory, and such substancial popculture references, I feel like both their significations and physical presence within a space are so impactful. Considering how comfort was also a major component when it came to creating the pieces, I wonder which of the designs was the most complex to create?

Probably the infinite dice hoodie. Dice is the imagery of the gambler, which is one of the rebellious female images I want to create. With this design, I wanted it to be dangerous and risky when taking up space – only the hood is inflated, and it’s huge. But it’s also very heavy and moves around. I was trying a lot of ways to solve the problem, and at the end, I added a fitted inner bodice structure under the oversized hoodie to pull and stabilize the dice hood. Still honestly, this look is the least comfortable design. But you know, the gambler needs to take some risk.

Beauty (and by extension, fashion) is definitely pain, but it’s definitely necessary in order to tell a story like you managed to do within that collection. I feel like every project you’ve released has a cohesive theme and messaging behind it, developing into an overall profound and deliberate body of work. How closely linked are your conceptual and constructive practices. Do the limits of physically making the garment inform the ideology behind it, or does the idea itself push back against the restrictions in production?

I usually don’t insist on constructive practice. Like Brian Eno said "gardening not architecture”, I prefer to plant the seed and let it grow itself. In the first year of RCA, we have a course called Materials, and every student needs to choose one material and to do a deep and profound research. I studied and explored air and inflatables. I actually developed all my techniques through that course. Then when it came to the final year and I was developing my concept of breaking the dressing pressure for women, I just naturally felt the inflatable construction would be a great way to show my anger.

I love how sometimes things just manage to fall into place like that! Especially when you approach fashion with such an intuitive approach, it makes so much sense that the results and your experience are interconnected. Thank you so much for answering my questions <3 You also approach fashion with such deliberate action, it seems as though you were born to design and create! Can you remember the moment you figured out that this was what you wanted to do, and how your time studying at the Rhode Island School of Design and Royal College of Arts influenced that?

You are welcome :)

Before I went to RISD, I was trapped in my small world. RISD was mind-blowing for me. A lot of weird things and weird people, full of excitement, enjoyment, fun and comfort. I think it makes me desire to explore a bigger world and more excitement through creating. My experience in RCA is not complete because of the long lockdown. But I have met the very awesome tutor Alex Mullins. His easy and fun attitude to fashion is a goal for me. Lol