Creative to Creative: Ziwei Qu
Qu on design DNA, latest collection and goals
This article was a second year assignment, to write a feature about a UAL alumni that now has their own menswear brand. We got to interview her in person and do a photoshoot with her collection to produce a couple articles, this was the first:
Ziwei Qu is a London based designer and founder of YYAtomic
However, before becoming a business owner, Qu studied BA (Hons) Fashion Design Technology: Menswear at London College of Fashion and went on to later complete her masters at Central Saint Martins. As a UAL alumni, Qu returns to discuss her brand, tease her upcoming collection and describe what she thinks the future of fashion looks like, as well as the future of YYAtomic.
YYAtomic is a streetwear menswear brand made for the red carpet or other special occasions.
YYAtomic is a streetwear menswear brand made for the red carpet or other special occasions. “The style is retro futuristic with mechanical aesthetics and a touch of romance,” says Qu. Her work fuses the contemporary styles with sophisticated craftsmanship to really elevate the typical streetwear aesthetics. She acknowledges that this aesthetic is not typical for red carpet events, but remains hopeful that she can upgrade the everyday wear style for special occasions, looking to brands like Balenciaga as inspiration.
She started YYAtomic soon after graduating in 2022 where she became part of the first cohort of designers to be introduced to Flair Fashion. From then, their commerce journey together began.
Qu’s brand has grown since joining Flair Fashion with a focus on the London Fashion Week calendar to produce bi annual collections. Each collection is inspired by a specified theme from the designer's personal interests. Previous motifs have stemmed from aerospace or most recently, western cowboys.
The upcoming collection will focus on the concept of the Navy uniforms from the 1920s combined with futuristic elements. These marines designs will debut at London Fashion Week in September with a new key element: womenswear.
For the first time, Qu reveals that she will now be incorporating womenswear into her collections after admitting the difficulties being a small brand catering solely to menswear.
“The style is still the same style. It's going to fit the YYAtomic brand's identity,” says Qu when describing the impact a womenswear line will have in a menswear brand.
Our UAL alumna has much to look forward to as a young designer and business owner. One being hopes of a collaboration with former One Direction star Harry Styles who she believes would represent her brand values best.
“When you become bigger and more famous the background or your story is going to make you more unique,” says Qu as she thinks of what the future of YYAtomic can look like. She goes on to say:
“I want my brand, whatever happens, to keep creativity and impulsiveness. That's my identity and brand value.”
Looking back on this in final year now, there are some edit’s I would do to elevate this article - but it’s still great to see the progress. If you’d like to see BTS of this interview, check out my Youtube where I documented the process. Make sure to subscribe for updates on when tea is being spilled!
