Rising star of Chinese fashion Ruohan Nie shines on the global stage Clutch Fire

Design enthusiasts already know the name Ruohan Nie. The rapidly acclaimed, award-winning style of her feminine, sustainably made luxury pieces has propelled her into the select circle of designers on the official Paris Fashion Week calendar from 2023 onwards. The young designer has built her career along an atypical path, to say the least, in a creative industry that often enforces standardisation.

At the offices of Spread the Communication, the young woman and her brand’s CEO, Waël Benkerrour, are preparing for one of their first extended interviews. Asked about her childhood, Ruohan Nie opens up. She grew up near Beijing, in a quiet “little” city of ten million called Tianjin, whose colonial heritage and myriad multicultural influences sparked her interest in the wider world. The daughter of two English teachers, she was introduced to the piano with rigour at a very young age (she laughingly refers to it as the “Chinese way”), an instrument she played until she was eighteen, as well as the flute.

A beginning between passion and inexperience

Until then, a career in fashion wasn’t really on the cards. After finishing secondary school, Ruohan Nie applied to traditional universities to study mathematics or history. But, having fallen for fashion at seventeen, she decided to apply to internationally recognised fashion schools, including Central Saint Martins. After facing rejections, the young woman sent her end-of-term music video to Parsons School of Design in New York, which accepted her- a successful gamble.

In her first year, she went to study in Paris as an exchange student. During her year in Paris, the future fashion designer undertook a refreshing and unexpected internship with her professor, Australian artist Mel O’Callaghan, who was then working on bird saliva, used in Chinese cosmetics. Back in New York, Ruohan Nie began exploring 3D fashion design. The young artist then undertook a number of internships in the industry, following the lead of her friends, who had long been attuned to the industry’s tastes.

Internships, a panorama of the industry

She worked for Jenny Yoo, The Row, La Garçonne, and Shaina Mote. For the latter label, she went to work in Los Angeles, where she collaborated with local artists. “It was my favourite internship,” she admits, seated on a designer sofa. Meeting organiser, purchasing assistant, content creator… Ruohan Nie has tried her hand at several roles in the industry. “I often stayed on the surface. If I had my time again, I’d go deeper to learn more,” she admits.

The adventure of her eponymous label began in 2020, when she founded her brand after winning the Chinese Institute of America’s fashion design competition. Less than a year after graduating, Ruohan Nie won the Lane Crawford x Labelhood Special Fund in 2021, a fund dedicated to promising young Chinese designers. The designer staged her first show in Shanghai in September of the same year.

Pascal Morand and the official PFW calendar

While lockdown dragged on in China, she applied to Paris Fashion Week (PFW) in 2022. Pascal Morand, Executive President of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), who had already spotted the label, then added it to the official calendar starting with the spring/summer 2023 season- a presence that continues to this day. Beyond the shows, the brand enjoyed a two-year presence at the Boon gallery in the Marais.

For Ruohan Nie and Waël Benkerrour, exposure can be achieved in ways other than Fashion Week. The brand recently staged pop-ups in Japan and Canada, and will arrive in Milan next January. With its presence in Japan, its second-largest market, the brand is learning to meet the demands of local customers in terms of composition and values, and is honing a compelling sales pitch.

Going beyond fashion alone

Ruohan Nie’s expertise lies in creation, in all its forms. And when you look at her canvases, it’s clear that she doesn’t limit herself to fashion alone. Her eclectic background has taught her well: all the arts are connected. Her photographs and paintings have even led to requests from several galleries.

Although she turned down the offer for fear of spreading herself too thin, Ruohan Nie knows she is nonetheless being recognised as both designer and artist, and that this aligns with how her profession is evolving. “Designers are changing,” says the designer herself. “People expect something different from what was done in the 1990s. They want more than just fashion to call someone an artistic creator. They expect a clear proposition, beautiful shows, but also a role in art in general.”

Early, decisive recognition

Ruohan Nie’s fledgling career was quickly recognised through awards and selections. The young designer distinguished herself by winning the Yu Creative Impact Prize in 2022, by her presence at Paris Fashion Week as early as 2023, and at the 2024 edition of the ANDAM Prize, where she reached the final stage. A few months ago, she also won the Sustasia Fashion Prize, focused on sustainable practices and innovation, during Shanghai Fashion Week.

All these accolades have had a decisive impact on her current state of mind. “It’s all about momentum, which is why I set myself goals,” she explains. “These awards are a test: are you good enough to succeed in the industry?” These distinctions have propelled her into another dimension, and her aim is to maintain this momentum for as long as possible. But, “the end is part of the game,” she acknowledges, recalling the “depressing” documentaries on Martin Margiela and Alexander McQueen.

What does the future hold for her label?

“Recognition for artistic brands can help you work at a major house,” she adds, confidently. Confident because, with around 500 looks produced per year with her label and even more sketches, Ruohan Nie rarely runs out of ideas. For her, a major house means other resources, a new dimension.

As for her eponymous brand, she says she has two choices: to remain a niche brand, or to be acquired by a group in order to grow. And thus earn the respect of an industry that, from Paris to Shanghai to Milan, has difficulty trusting Asian designers if they haven’t had the opportunity to prove their talent with a European house.

“The next decade will be China’s decade”.

For the time being, the brand is determined to build a stable structure to enable Ruohan Nie to concentrate solely on creation, as Waël Benkerrour explains. Suitable profiles are in short supply, especially given the scale of the label. With a very busy schedule, the artist spends around thirty weeks a year in China, but often travels to Europe and elsewhere to follow the life of her collections.

For the designer, the added value of these trips outweighs the workload. “The previous generation in China didn’t speak English and didn’t travel abroad. But our generation is free to exchange ideas and mix influences,” she stresses. “In fashion, the next decade will be China’s,” she asserts.

The brand aims for a lasting presence in Paris

Ruohan is currently present in around 50 boutiques in China and 20 abroad. As part of its international expansion, the brand has recently partnered with Galeries Lafayette Paris, Barneys Japan, SSENSE, and Printemps Doha, joining its existing clientele, which includes Isetan, United Arrows, and Machine-A.

Already well established in China, the brand now aims to deepen its retail presence in the country. With national and international recognition in mind, Ruohan’s main objective is to establish a lasting presence in Paris. It plans to open offices there to manage its press relations and to have a pied-à-terre near Italy, where it carries out its textile research.

This internationalisation requires a command of English on the part of the team, most of whom are Chinese. In recruitment, this has become essential. Every year, two or three members of the team travel to Paris to attend Fashion Week and its preparations. The reverse trip is planned for future Paris-based employees, to reinforce the feeling of belonging to the same project, that of an ambitious Chinese fashion brand.