As part of a collaboration with the acclaimed Magnum photographer, the striking images form part of a wider upcoming project
Yang Li has woven innumerable underground and subcultural references into his eponymous label’s output since its inception in 2012, with his darkly romantic aesthetic amplified by the musicians he chooses to soundtrack his shows: Justin Broadwick of Napalm Death and Michael Gira of experimental noise-rock band Swans have both played live at the designer’s presentations in recent seasons.
Now, Li adds a further dimension to his vision as he releases his first ever campaign, Too Much, But Not Enough. And if you’re expecting something straightforward from the London-based designer (which is unlikely if you’re familiar with his work) then you’d better think twice.
Instead of enlisting an established fashion name to shoot the images, Li chose to approach renowned Magnum photographer Antoine D’Agata, whose visceral body of work has explored the dark depths of the human condition: from drug addiction and alcoholism, to incarceration and sexual relationships. Also on board were frequent collaborators, Dazed's Ellie Grace Cumming and Jamie Reid, who styled and art directed the shoot respectively.
“I’ve been following Antoine’s work for a long, long time and decided to approach him about creating a series of images that might lead towards a campaign. We had a conversation about the project and just kind of became seduced by each other,” Li tells us. “(This was) actually the first time he’d collaborated with anyone – not just in fashion, but ever – so it’s very special.”
Also not from the world of fashion are the campaign’s ‘models’, who Li sought out on the streets of Beijing, where he and D’Agata spent three weeks working on the project, interviewing each individual until they narrowed it down to the final cast. The auditions themselves proved intense and emotional as the designer asked each of them to offer up their stories in exchange for his own.
“We met over 300 women in those three weeks, and every single one of them was different,” explains Li. “Some we met on the street and invited to the casting, others were interesting people we tracked down in bars and through friends, and a few were models – but they were all from completely different walks of life, different backgrounds, and had wildly different stories. There were some really heavy moments, and the tears and anguish you see in the images are totally real. I got very emotional at points, because when you’re asking someone to tell you about their lives then you really have to offer your heart too – it was hard, but we couldn’t have done it without building up that level of trust.”
”There were some really heavy moments, and the tears and anguish you see in the images are totally real. I got very emotional at points, because when you’re asking someone to tell you about their lives then you really have to offer your heart too” – Yang Li
Translated onto film, the resulting images that make up the campaign occupy – in much the same way Li’s designs do – the space between fragility and strength, bringing to mind the emotionally charged tension of works by Francis Bacon. They’re also full of movement and life. “We basically just set up the stage for the models and that was it. There was no intricate styling or direction from us when it came to capturing the shots,” the designer tells us. “They each moved in their own way, so what you see is completely genuine. It was so important to me that the images felt natural. The physicality of the photographs are beautiful of course, but there’s so much more to them than that. It was a privilege to hear the stories each person offered up.”
Though Li is keen to focus on the campaign, the images are but a small selection of the individuals he and D’Agata ended up shooting while in Beijing, and the designer has big plans for the coming year. In 2019, Too Much, But Not Enough, will be exhibited in London and China, before being published as a book.
“We’re kind of making it up as we go along, but Antoine and I are keen to continue working together – he’s like an artist in the way he works, in terms of approach and physicality and structure, which really appeals to me,” says Li. “We’re heading back to China for a month in August, but we’re not really expecting anything, because you can’t predict people and you can’t predict that one day you’re going to be sitting on the street and suddenly someone interesting is going to walk past and want to tell you their story. But I hope they will.”
Check out Yang Li's first campaign Too Much, But Not Enough in the gallery above.
In 2019, a series of images taken as part of Too Much, But Not Enough will be exhibited in London and China, before being published as a book.
