NEW YORK – September 15, 2026 – As part of the official New York Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2027 (NYFW) schedule, WJX BY VANESSA YE unveiled its latest couture collection, Shadow-Light: Shadows Fall, Life Unfolds, at China Institute Fashion Night, illuminating the evening with a poetic vision of Chinese aesthetics. Through the narrative of “courtyards and shadows,” the collection uses couture as its brush and the courtyard as its setting, offering the world a poetic letter from the East.
Drawing from the poetic essence of classical Jiangnan gardens — where light and shadow intertwine, emptiness and presence exist in balance — designer Vanessa Ye translated the spirit of the courtyard into a contemporary couture language. The latticed window, a threshold between inside and outside, and the Taihu stone, sculpted by rain and time, were deconstructed into hollowed cutouts, rhythmic woven details, and fluid silhouettes. As models moved across the runway, ice‑plum blossom prints animated each look, while accessories inspired by traditional shadow‑puppet theatre cast delicate shadows under stage lighting.
The collection is deeply rooted in a range of Chinese intangible cultural heritage crafts. The openwork carving, engraving and hand-colouring techniques of shadow‑puppet theatre are re‑interpreted into the lines and silhouettes of runway accessories. Crafted by intangible cultural heritage inheritors, the art of light and shadow moves from behind shadow‑puppet screens onto couture garments.
Ornaments created through silver jewelry forging craftsmanship encase fragments of Langyao red and sapphire-speckled porcelain. Evoking deep crimson and snow-kissed blue, the contrasting hues are framed with silver edging, creating a distinctly Chinese aesthetic through the striking interplay of red and blue. Drawing on the time-honored techniques of repeated hammering and repoussé practiced by traditional craft inheritors, silver settings embrace broken porcelain shards. This design echoes the poetic state of mind captured in the classical verse, “When the stream ends, sit and watch clouds drift by.” Fragmented porcelain gains new expressive power when encased in silver, while imperfection finds a different form of wholeness through restoration.
Leather-sculpted blossoms are refined to a delicate thickness of just 0.2 millimeters, blooming as floral accents on collars and hair ornaments. Raw leather is inherently rugged, yet meticulous hammering transforms the tough material into delicate floral softness. The transformation becomes a metaphor for resilience—the ability to withstand pressure and still find a way to bloom.
Stage light filters through projected lattice‑window cut‑outs, casting shifting motifs of cracked ice, persimmon calyxes and gourds across the runway floor, creating the effect of a living, flowing ink‑wash painting. “The beauty of Chinese gardens lies not only in what we see, but also in what we leave unseen. Eastern aesthetics are not about excess, but about the harmony between emptiness and fullness,” said Vanessa Ye, Founder of WJX BY VANESSA YE. “For this show, we invite audiences to look beyond technical craftsmanship and reconnect with beauty itself.”
WJX BY VANESSA YE builds a cultural bridge between Eastern creative philosophy and Western runway presentation. Rooted in Shanghai and informed by an Eastern design philosophy, the brand seeks to foster cross-cultural dialogue through a language of fashion that needs no translation. “Aesthetics know no East or West. Like shadows in a garden, they are simply light meeting form,” Ye reflected. “Our garments are both boundaries and windows — they invite East and West to meet in every inch of fabric, in a dialogue that needs no translation.”
Show Information
Brand: WJX BY VANESSA YE
Theme: Shadow‑Light: Shadows Fall, Life Unfolds
Date: September 10, 2026 (Official New York Fashion Week Spring‑Summer 2027 Schedule)
Venue: China Institute of America | 100 Washington Street, New York, NY 10006
WJX BY VANESSA YE collaborated with distinguished national‑ and provincial‑level intangible cultural heritage masters to bring age‑old handcraft techniques to the Shadow‑Light: Shadows Fall, Life Unfolds runway.
Featured Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor
Duan Songwen | Inheritor of Silver Jewelry Forging Craftsmanship
Hailing from Maqin County, Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, Duan Songwen has practised silver craftsmanship for 30 years, carrying forward the craft through his family lineage. He was a grantee of the 2024 Rural Culture and Tourism Leader Support Program (Qinghai Province).
Li Shiwei | National Representative Inheritor of Xiaoyi Shadow-Puppet Theatre
Li Shiwei is an expert in the design and craftsmanship of shadow puppets and marionettes, and a National Representative Inheritor of Xiaoyi Shadow-Puppet Theatre, a national-level intangible cultural heritage of China. His handcrafted figures for traditional leather-chamber, paper-window shadow theatre won First Prize in the Carving Exhibition at the 1st Tangshan International Shadow-Puppet Arts Festival.
Shadow-puppet artistry runs through Li Shiwei’s family. His wife, Zhao Cuilian, is also a renowned Qin-Jin shadow-puppet artist, while their daughter, Liu Shuyu, has likewise devoted herself to the preservation and practice of traditional shadow-puppet craftsmanship. Zhao Cuilian has been invited to Kyoto, Japan; Boston, USA; and Sri Lanka for academic exchanges, performances and exhibitions.
About WJX BY VANESSA YE
Founded in 2012 in Shanghai by designer Vanessa Ye, WJX BY VANESSA YE is a haute couture brand reviving traditional Chinese culture and reimagining vintage charm with modern aesthetics.
Media ContactCompany Name: Shanghai University Academy of Fine ArtsContact Person: PangjiqingEmail: Send EmailCountry: ChinaWebsite: https://safa.shu.edu.cn/index.htm
