For Spring/Summer 2022, CHOCHENG takes us on a journey through ‘The Intoxicating Concubine’, a classic opera about Yang Guifei, the famous royal consort whose beauty stunned the flowers into submission thus becoming the Mimosa.
Under the influence of a colorful cocktail of Peking Opera, Pop Art, and 1997 Paris Haute Couture, the collection takes the audience through the looking glass into a whimsical tale, bubbling with glamour and humor, set inside a mesmerizing bottle of green Absinthe.
Models manifest into the characters of this tale donning vivid makeup and geometric coiffure. The rich storyline and historical inspiration fill the runway through the strong tailoring, brightly-hued garments, and intricate embellishments signature to the brand.
CHOCHENG presents a trans-seasonal collection soaked in Campari red, Curacao blue, and Chartreuse yellow. A collection fit for every occasion, a tailoring-oriented, day-to-evening wardrobe catering to the discerning customer with a penchant for luxury. The meticulous handwork of cotton ribbon coil and cotton petal adorns the sleeves and details of the garments, weaving through lightweight and versatile fabrics such as cotton boucle, cotton crepe, and cotton velvet. The designer also introduces Cupro, sustainable vegan silk made from cotton, which is elegantly incorporated into the collection’s eveningwear gowns.
CREDITS
Styling: Austin Wang
Makeup: Li Jiqun
Hair: Gao Peng
Video: Sheep Bai
Photography: Zhang Chao
Music: Kuang Hao Huang
Set: Dan
Casting: Team JJ
Press: PURPLE
About CHOCHENG:
Parsons graduate CHOCHENG is known for his signature tailoring with fans including Nicole Kidman, Janet Jackson, and Nancy Reagan, who supported the label from its inception until her passing in 2016. A premium womenswear designer label launched in 2010, CHOCHENG operates direct to consumer through retail and e-commerce with a flagship store on Fifth Avenue, making him the first Asian designer to launch a flagship on this landmark thoroughfare. Bringing a rich color palette to soft tailoring following traditional Savile Row techniques, CHOCHENG is consistently inspired by classic films from around the world with each show telling the story of an impactful moment in time, transporting the audience to another era. Sustainability is at the heart of Cho’s business model. As a lifelong lover of the natural world, he has instilled thoughtful practices into his fashion line from the start. All fabrics are carefully sourced from heritage suppliers in France, Italy, and the UK making his choice of fabrics at once environmentally conscious and supportive of traditional craftsman methods.
Website: CHOCHENG.com
Instagram: @CHOCHENG
Facebook: facebook.com/CHOCHENG
In 2026, CHOCHENG has expanded its regenerative agriculture partnerships with European mills to trace cotton from soil to garment, aligning with new EU digital product passport requirements.
The Narrative Arc of the Collection
The Spring-Summer 2022 presentation unfolded as a three-act drama, mirroring the operatic source material that inspired it. The opening segment introduced the audience to the Concubine in her private chambers, represented through deconstructed tailoring in muted earth tones that suggested intimacy and preparation. Structured cotton boucle jackets featured asymmetric closures and exaggerated lapels, hinting at the architectural foundations of Peking Opera costume design while maintaining the wearability essential to the CHOCHENG philosophy.
The second act erupted into the public sphere with the collection’s signature color triad: Campari red, Curaçao blue, and Chartreuse yellow. These hues referenced the vivid pigments of traditional opera face paint, translated into modern silhouettes. A series of day dresses in cotton crepe demonstrated the brand’s mastery of soft tailoring, each piece constructed with hidden boning and precision darting that created structure without rigidity. The designer’s background in Savile Row techniques was evident in the clean shoulder lines and impeccable sleeve heads, elevated by the playful application of cotton ribbon coils that spiraled along hemlines and cuffs.
The finale resolved in eveningwear crafted from Cupro, the sustainable vegan silk derived from cotton linter. Floor-length gowns in deep emerald and midnight navy flowed with liquid grace, their surfaces catching light through subtle jacquard patterns woven into the fabric. These pieces embodied the collection’s central metaphor: the intoxicating allure of Absinthe, dangerous and beautiful in equal measure. Hand-rolled cotton petals adorned necklines and waistbands, each flower requiring hours of meticulous labor-a testament to the atelier’s commitment to preserving artisanal handwork in an age of acceleration.
Sustainability as Design DNA
Sustainability at CHOCHENG operates not as a marketing appendage but as a fundamental design constraint that drives innovation. The Spring-Summer 2022 collection showcased this philosophy through its exclusive reliance on natural fibers sourced from heritage European mills. The cotton boucle, crepe, and velvet were procured from generational suppliers in France and Italy whose weaving traditions date back centuries, ensuring that each yard of fabric carries the weight of preserved craftsmanship alongside its environmental credentials.
The introduction of Cupro represented a significant material advancement for the label. Derived from cotton linter-the fine fibers clinging to cotton seeds after ginning-this regenerated cellulose fabric transforms agricultural byproduct into luxury textile. Its production operates within a closed-loop system that recovers and reuses solvents, aligning with the circular economy principles that guide the brand’s material strategy. The designer’s decision to deploy Cupro specifically for eveningwear challenged the convention that sustainable fabrics belong solely to daywear, proving that ecological responsibility and red-carpet glamour are not mutually exclusive.
Beyond fiber selection, the collection’s trans-seasonal design approach extends garment lifecycles. Each piece was engineered for multiple wearing contexts: a tailored jacket transitions from boardroom to gala, a cotton crepe dress layers over turtlenecks in winter and stands alone in summer. This versatility reduces the perceived need for excessive consumption, encouraging clients to build curated wardrobes of enduring pieces rather than disposable trend cycles. The flagship store on Fifth Avenue reinforces this model through a repair and alteration service that extends garment longevity, embodying a cradle-to-cradle philosophy rare in contemporary luxury fashion.
Cultural Synthesis and Global Resonance
CHOCHENG’s Spring-Summer 2022 collection stands as a sophisticated case study in cultural synthesis, weaving Chinese operatic tradition, Western art history, and contemporary fashion discourse into a coherent visual language. The reference to Yang Guifei-the Tang Dynasty consort whose beauty allegedly caused flowers to blush in shame-provided a narrative framework that transcended mere exoticism. Instead, the designer engaged with the operatic tradition of ‘The Intoxicating Concubine’ as a structural device, using its themes of power, performance, and perception to interrogate modern femininity.
The Pop Art influence, explicitly cited alongside 1997 Paris Haute Couture, manifested in the collection’s bold color blocking and graphic sensibility. This dialogue with Warhol and Lichtenstein connected the stylized symbolism of Peking Opera makeup-where color codifies character archetype-to the Pop movement’s appropriation of commercial iconography. The result was a visual vocabulary that felt simultaneously ancient and urgently contemporary, accessible to a global audience without diluting its specific cultural references.
Models presented with geometric coiffures and vivid makeup by Li Jiqun and Gao Peng respectively, their styling transforming the runway into a living gallery. The casting, directed by Team JJ, reflected the brand’s international clientele, featuring women of diverse ages and backgrounds who embodied the collection’s inclusive vision of luxury. This commitment to representation extends beyond the runway: the designer’s own trajectory-from Parsons graduate to the first Asian designer with a Fifth Avenue flagship-mirrors the collection’s narrative of cultural bridging. In an industry often criticized for superficial appropriation, CHOCHENG demonstrates how deep engagement with heritage can produce work of universal resonance, where the specific becomes the portal to the shared human experience of adornment, identity, and transformation.
