Today winners were announced for the second annual Yu Prize, founded by entrepreneur and philanthropist Wendy Yu to support up-and-coming Chinese fashion designers. Alex Po and Derek Cheng, the designers behind the gender neutral label PONDER.ER took home the top honors, winning the Yu Prize x Li-Ning Grand award, which comes with a cash prize of 1 million RMB, mentoring from top industry professionals, and the opportunity to sell their wares at Harrod’s.
The two designers first met when they were both students at Central St. Martins, and they founded their label in 2019. “We launched our first commercial collection right before the pandemic hit the world,” they explained via email, “but on the positive side, we think the pandemic actually gave us time and opportunities to reflect, adapt, and to be creative with how we develop PONDER.ER as a story-telling brand.”
Their latest collection, titled “Formula Uncategorized,” was inspired by auto racing and features people of all genders wearing a mix of tailored pieces with oversized knits in bold prints (after finishing his studies at Central St. Martins, Po went on to the Royal College of Art to study men’s knitwear). Cheng relates their approach to unisex dressing to his earliest fashion inspiration, his older sister who was “a tomboy.”
“She was always wearing baggy outfits, oversized graphic t-shirts, and jeans, she never wore dresses or anything that we (or our society) would classify as ‘feminine’,” he recalled. “And I remember thinking that that was really cool and maybe because of her, growing up, the idea of [a] gender role in fashion has never been very strict.” They are excited for the exposure that winning the Yu Prize will bring not just for the sales bottom line, but because it will allow them to spread their brand beliefs. “We feel like the message of ‘gender fluidity’ and ‘soft masculinity’ hasn’t been the most widely talked-about topic in Asia,” they explained, “and that is one of the reasons why we wanted to build PONDER.ER around it and our personal stories growing up as two non-masculine boys.”
Meanwhile, the Yu Prize Rising Voices Award, given in partnership with UGG, was presented to ALIENANT by Yuchen Han, who delivered a personal collection inspired by his struggles with mental health. “The millions of fringed hairs on the clothes represent my countless personal emotions,” the designer explained via email. Aside from the fringe details, his collection featured strong tailoring with a mix of fabrics and prints for a “collage” effect. He thinks this is an exciting time for Chinese creatives. “The fashion industry has never been so flourishing in China,” he said. “I see the new generations of Chinese fashion designers shining on the global stage with strong personalities. It will be the new wave in the next 10 years.” Han also receives a cash prize of 100,000 RMB and the launch of a product collaboration with UGG.
Additionally, five brands received the YU PRIZE Creative Impact Award, in partnership with YUMEE: the womenswear designer Louis Shengtao Chen, the menswear label Private Policy helmed by Haoran Lin and Siying Qu, Ruohan Nie’s namesake women’s label, Victor Wong’s namesake accessories label, and Yirantian Guo’s womenswear collection. “I always believe in ‘create in China,’” Nie told Vogue Runway via email. “In this generation, we have the opportunity to see the world and learn from the world. Coming back to China to start our fashion career, we have all these wonderful resources standing by us to support us to create and to dream; all this profound history to be inspired and amazed by. I do believe, in a very near future, Chinese fashion could become globally recognized and appreciated.”
