Xander Zhou has always been fascinated by how clothing constructs identity and how a single collection can carry an entire world. The Beijing-based designer—founder of his eponymous label and the first Chinese designer to show at London Fashion Week Men’s—has spent nearly two decades developing a rich, interconnected universe populated by humans, aliens, and humanoid robots, guided by the belief that the boundaries between them are illusory.
At the heart of Zhou’s practice is a commitment to fashion as a system—one that builds coherent worlds rather than following already established ones. Deeply engaged with questions of cultural identity and the evolving role of AI in fashion, he draws on Eastern philosophy, creative freedom, and the fluid intersections between ancient thought and contemporary technology. In conversation with hube, Zhou reflects on these themes and explains why building a life he genuinely enjoys has now become a subject in its own right.
hube: You’ve spoken about moving through different stages in your relationship with your own cultural heritage, from ignorance to denial to something closer to reconnection. Where does that relationship stand today?
Xander Zhou: I no longer think about this relationship in terms of “returning” or “reconnecting.” For me, culture is more like a constantly shifting structure. It’s not fixed, not linear, and not something you can go back to. What interests me now is the way of thinking itself—for example, the relational structures and logic of transformation found in Eastern philosophy, and how these can be reactivated today. I’m also interested in the possible connections between these ancient systems of thought and cutting-edge science. I’m no longer interested in culture being used as a visual symbol.
