2025 China Academy of Art, School of Fashion Design Graduation Opening Fashion Show

At 7:00 pm on June 1, 2025, the China Academy of Art’s Xiangshan Campus launched its grand graduation exhibition under the theme “Seventy-Two Transformations.” This event, infused with the creativity and artistic reflections of CAA’s students, served not only as a comprehensive showcase of educational achievements in art but also as a vivid embodiment of the academy’s philosophy: “rooting the academy in local culture and centering on the people.”

As a core segment of this exhibition, the School of Fashion Design presented its sub-theme, “The Art of Multiplicity,” with professors Chen Peng, Wang Shuying, Wu Jie, and Hu Nan leading the 2025 graduates in showcasing their collections at the opening fashion show. Through the interplay of diversity and consistency, the show explored the boundless possibilities of fashion design.

The 2025 CAA Graduation Season chose “Seventy-Two Transformations (Metamorphoses)” as its overarching theme. Drawing inspiration from the ancient wisdom embedded in the myth of Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, this theme symbolizes the creative power to break through limitations and embrace change, while also hinting at the deeper philosophy that “all changes remain rooted in essence.” This resonates seamlessly with the School of Fashion Design’s focus on “The Art of Multiplicity.”

The concept of “Dao” (Tao)—the spiritual thread running through Chinese philosophy, the natural law in the Dao De Jing, and the yin-yang dialectic in the I Ching—becomes the designer’s spiritual anchor in artistic creation, ensuring that countless “transformations” remain grounded rather than becoming rootless diversions. When the fantastical imagination of “Seventy-Two Transformations” meets the rational contemplation of “The Art of Multiplicity,” the cultural DNA of traditional mythology undergoes a metamorphosis within contemporary design, granting fashion a timeless vitality.

Graduates of the CAA School of Fashion Design, drawing inspiration from “Seventy-Two Transformations,” achieve multiplicity in identity and cohesion of spirit through their creations. They break boundaries between reality and virtuality, the classical and the futuristic, weaving personal consciousness with collective memory and merging historical contexts with future imagination. In the warp and weft of fibers, they construct a multi-dimensional aesthetic paradigm.

These works—ranging from digital-empowered narratives of virtual-real coexistence to contemporary reinterpretations of traditional Xiaoshan lace techniques—reflect innovative uses of materials and clever tailoring, becoming artistic expressions of “change” and “constancy.” Each piece is a tangible dialogue between designers and time, an exploration of the Daoist ideal of “coexisting with heaven and earth.”

Since its origins in 1928 with the Pattern Department, the CAA School of Fashion Design has upheld its mission of “revitalizing Eastern culture,” with dedicated exploration in “sustainable development” and “local narratives.” In this year’s graduation collections, one sees Eastern aesthetic symbols distilled from classics like Dream of the Red Chamber, the eco-practice of using bio-materials, immersive experiences powered by digital twin technologies, and innovative fusions of traditional craftsmanship with modern design. All these works embody the academy’s spirit of “bridging past and present, striving for renewal,” exemplifying its educational philosophy of “upholding tradition while pursuing innovation.”

Fashion design has become a vital carrier of cultural soft power. We look forward to seeing CAA’s fashion graduates continue to embody the academy’s motto: “Diligence, Reverence, Integration, and Far-reaching Vision.” May they break artistic boundaries through innovation, safeguard cultural ecology with reverence, and, through dialogue between East and West, contribute to establishing a Chinese voice in global fashion. Let design truly become a force that drives societal progress and fulfills people’s aspirations for a beautiful life.