Yifan Song

The act of collecting provides inspiration for Yifan Song’s final Graduate Diploma collection. Born and raised in Shanghai, Yifan undertook a BA in Fashion Design & Technology at the International Fashion Academy in Paris before moving to London for the Graduate Diploma at Central Saint Martins. Yifan’s work has already received critical acclaim, having been shown at Paris and Shanghai fashion weeks as well as featured by The Business of Fashion. Reflecting on his time at CSM, Yifan says the most important things he has learned are the independence and confidence to do whatever he wants.

Deeply inspired by a childhood spent collecting souvenirs, Yifan chose to study the compulsions behind this hobby and the knock-on effects on a collector’s life. “I strongly believe that collecting as a hobby is ultimately a human instinct,” he says. Another key aspect of inspiration for Yifan’s collection came from Japanese cartoons. “In their culture, girls’ faces and actions all seem very shy, but the body is very sexy, I find that quite charming.” This combination of demure femininity and overt sex appeal struck a chord with Yifan, who decided to create his own collectible muse. “I am creating a girl who is my muse,” he says. “The main purpose is to ignite a desire in people to collect.”

Yifan’s collection is wildly colourful and fun; prints that he developed himself are strewn across super-tight jumpsuits with sexy, unexpected cut-outs and a pair of bold, cartoonish butterfly wings. This stark contrast between an innocent playfulness and sexuality truly encapsulates the duality of Yifan’s muse and speaks to the mania and materiality behind collection culture.


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Words: Ellie June Goodman
Images: Stephanie Francis-Shanahan & Saoirse Sadeghian