Fading Elegance

Aspiring to commemorate my late grandfather with Alzheimer’s, I explored various fashion techniques to combine an honest yet hopeful world of my own: knitting hospital bouquet imagery onto coat lapels; crafting ties from hand-knitted socks, and applying traditional Chinese fabric prints onto modern mesh materials. For silhouettes, I became inspired by draping and combining deconstructed t shirts with innovative cuts to create new. My favorite piece of my collection is the faded hospital gown, where I translated my grandfather‘s faded diary into the print used.

Xinzi Cui is a New York–based fashion and accessories designer whose work explores the intersection of concept, form, and personal narrative. She currently designs at Coach, following experience with Marc Jacobs, Thom Browne, and Monse. Her practice translates cultural memory, emotion, and everyday observations into unexpected silhouettes, materials, and details. Balancing playfulness with refinement, she sees fashion as a medium for storytelling, experimentation, and new ways of seeing the familiar.