Kuai Li: The FIT Student Dressing Celebrities for the Met Gala
It is early Friday morning in New York when Kuai picks up the phone, mere days away from her graduation. Kuai was propelled towards a certain kind of recognition among fashion circles after Sabrina wore her black wings look for the TikTok Awards in Brazil last year. By then her costumes had already been featured on Vogue Italia and tmrw magazine. She was contacted by Sabrina’s stylist Pedro Sales, after posting a new design of a green look. “Maybe he thought I’m a little crazy, you know!” she laughed. He had commented on her post, requesting her to check her DMs, which confused her. “I was like, ‘Who is this guy?’” she said mischievously. Pedro revealed they wanted to collaborate with her on Sabrina’s look for the TikTok awards, and Kuai agreed. “Oh, she’s quite fabulous,” Kuai said talking about Sabrina, “She’s so iconic and she wears a lot of great designs.”
Kuai had started getting messages from stylists and potential clients very quickly after she began posting the garments she created for her classes at FIT. It had led her to the moment when Sabrina’s team settled on the now iconic black wings look, which she had also posted on Instagram. “They wanted to try crazy things,” she said, “No matter how much it cost, or how big it is.” However, the shock of the assistant who had bought a small bag to deliver the piece to Sabrina’s team was palpable. “She opened her eyes widely, and asked me, ‘Sweetheart, are you sure this is the one?’ and I was like ‘Yes, this is what they want’. The assistant couldn’t believe that.” Kuai was spellbound at how beautiful Sato looked in the piece after the event went live – “I was like, oh my god, she’s such a blessing!”
Soon after the immense response after the show, Kylie’s team reached out to her. Kylie’s preferences and Kuai’s artistic practice complimented each other. Kylie laid out her preferences and Kuai navigated fabric around the areas she wanted exposed or concealed. “She wanted to show more of her midriff. I cut out that area to be exposed,” she said. She sketched for half an hour and before Kylie’s team replied to her about their preferences, she had already chosen the fabric – “As time was quite short”, she said. “I always spend time in my studio, working till ten or eleven,” she laughed, “I had my final due when I was making garments new garments for Kylie – and I stayed in the studio till almost twelve or one!” Within three days everything was ready.
Kuai’s designs are often conceptual in the way they uphold structured silhouettes which extend beyond the body. They highlight the prominence of the architectural. This influence draws from her practice as an industrial design student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Born in Yiyang, China, she moved to Beijing for college. “I was quite interested in industry and design sketches and architecture sketches,” she said, “I was obsessed with architects, mainly Louis Kahn.” She started going to art exhibitions. Her tmrw magazine piece with a circular exposed mid-section was inspired by the figurative artist James Turrell, who created a round cavity in the roof of a building to expose the sky above. After graduating from college, she had a roommate who was interested in fashion “She introduced me to designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Isse Miyake and Haider Akerman. I was really attracted to these designs.” She got a job in Beijing, but also started creating designs – however materializing them into reality became an issue due to bad fabric. She quit her job, moved to San Francisco with her boyfriend and applied to FIT. “I just kept what I felt for art” she said, “And used that passion and belief to transfer into fashion – that is the way I create my designs.”
She met Richie Shazam when the latter was shooting for her book ‘Shazam’, which was released at Dover Street Market in New York last week. Julia Fox’s stylist Briana Andalore, who had styled Dove Cameron with Kuai’s looks for Interview Magazine (which was also shot by Shazam) had told her that Richie would be launching a book for which she wanted to use her looks – specially a three-meter-long neon-green look. “I was like yes, it’s possible, but I have to go with you as I’m the only person who knows how to put this on the body,” she said. When they arrived at the studio, Richie was there. “We just hugged each other, she said she’s a huge fan of me, and I’m doing crazy stuff,” Kuai recalled, “She also said we should collaborate. She wanted to visit my studio, and I was like, ‘I still have a school studio!’”
Kuai shot her thesis editorial in Chinatown, highlighting the amalgamation of two cultures. She is excited by the diversity of lifestyle there and her designs stand boldly, commanding space within busy streets. Titled The Independent Reality, the collection highlights a visible boundary she creates with her garments. “I wanted to see people’s reactions,” she laughed, “Everybody was like ‘oh my god…these are avatars. They’re from the computer, but they’re actually alive.’ I think this is called the magic of fashion!”
After graduation, she will continue designing and completing her graduate collection, which will be showcased at NYFW. Moving forward, connecting with factory owners, looking for studio space and hiring people are part of her plan. When asked about whether she has any exciting collaborations coming up, she said, “Yes, yes, but I am not sure if you can write about them now!”
