After presenting for a few seasons at Milan Fashion Week, Shuting Qiu showed her spring 2025 collection in Paris at the Palais de Tokyo. “Compared to Milan, Paris challenged me to think about the weather,” said Qiu. “Last time I was showing in a garden, now it’s a completely different atmosphere. Showing inside rather than outside affects styling and accessory choices too. I have to adapt my aesthetic to different markets.”
After traveling to Cyprus last April, Qiu found the name of her collection in the island’s mythology: It is said that Venus was born there. Named The Palace Where Venus Descends, the show also made the designer reflect on romanticism. “Venus is the goddess of love, so I wanted my looks to be more romantic by adding moving elements such as fringes and flowers,” she explained. She collaborated with renowned artist Lu Xinjian to incorporate his iconic bold color contrasts and abstract lines into the designs.
Musical patterns became an inspiration for prints as well, with dots covering different textiles, while a focus on shoulders showed up thanks to research on how women dressed in traditional attire. “Color-wise, the tints I chose relate to Cyprus’s historical buildings, then they were paired with my bright signature shades and mixed with black and white to create balance,” Qiu said. This time the designer skipped her usual mix-and-match approach to fashion, using only one color to create fractures.
A new shoe design was added: A high heel featuring musical patterns became the key to the collection. Qiu also introduced kidswear this season. “We used textile leftovers to create the clothes,” she said. “It was very interesting to adapt my designs to children’s wear for my kind of aesthetic.” Lastly, the soundtrack reflected the collection’s theme by opening the show with a poem by Lena Platonos, a Greek electronic-music composer from the 1980s.
