Angel Chang
The Reclamation Of Embodied Practices & Natural Cycles In Fashion
Angel Chang uses local native-seed cotton that is grown on small family farms from April to August in Guizhou. Each family uses 1 mu (0.165 acres) of land to grow everything they need to eat and survive. Cotton is rotated with other vegetables planted throughout the year.
Whilst in the pursuit of reconnecting to Nature’s instinctive cycles and the meaningful valorization of ancient traditions and techniques, American designer Angel Chang has spent the last 10 years working with indigenous tribes from the Guizhou village to create a zero carbon womenswear line, entirely handmade by artisans from rural China. The label aims to support female artisans and inspire younger generations to take up traditional crafts in the hopes of preserving valuable knowledge, demonstrating the need for more slow-paced and mindful practices.
Tools for flattening and rolling cotton prior to spinning into thread, Guizhou.
Angel Chang in Guizhou.
Chang began her career designing for the Donna Karan Collection in New York and Chloé in Paris. Creating her first eponymous label in 2006, incorporating smart textiles into hi-tech garments, receiving several awards including the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award and the Cartier Women's Initiative Award. Even though the designer found herself feeling disappointed about the unfulfilled promise of technology for innovative textiles. She then decided to better understand the future of clothing by studying the ancient past and traditions, following rediscovery and precious learning path.
The Angel Chang Collection
Rural Area, China
“Our disconnection with nature has led to global climate change, widespread pollution, and the threat of 1 million species facing extinction.
The planet has responded with hurricanes, floods, forest fires, and now a global pandemic — like a stern warning that nature can wipe us out in an instant if we don’t change our ways.
Indigenous knowledge can remind us how to live harmoniously with nature. Reviving this connection with nature will be key to solving climate change and our future survival.”
The Angel Chang Collection
Fascinated by the ethnic-minority traditional garments she had seen at the Shanghai Museum, Chang decided to embark on a beautiful journey to Guizhou Province that encouraged her to follow the footsteps of her ancestors and reconnect to practices that were once natural to all humans. Throughout this journey, the designer rediscovered her ancestral roots and began to better understand how to work with villagers and farmers, in a fascinating and slow paced time structure. When she first started working in the mountains, Chang realized that she needed to forget everything she had been trained to do as a fashion designer, and start again from the very basics. She learned that the slow and organic pace of Nature could not be applied in the city, for natural things have their own time to come about. With patience and trust, Chang allowed Nature to become her teacher, re-learning the basics and fundamentals that have always been customary to indigenous communities around the world. The designer rescued a sense of time and space that can only be experienced when immersed in Nature itself. She strongly believes that we must allow our bodies and our practices to synchronize back with Nature’s timing, bringing attention to the importance of slow-paced processes, especially in the fashion industry. By following Nature’s timing and seasons, as well as producing only at the rate that the environment can recycle or decompose the waste, Chang cultivates a holistic and mindful practice, allowing her garments to have an embodied and grounded essence. Working with natural, organic materials and making no use of electricity whatsoever has led her to rediscover basic survival skills, highlighting the importance of making things by hand. The designer, together with the artisans and the beautiful work of Mother Earth, follows and respects a gradual timeline of a seed-to-closet garment.
Angel Chang in Guizhou.
Natural dyeing processes in Guizhou.
The Angel Chang raises awareness about the importance of protecting the knowledge of indigenous communities.
“Our dark blue fabric is dyed 6 times in an indigo dye vat, and allowed to dry in between. This repeated dipping and fading process ensures the color is even and naturally color-fast.When it’s sunny, dyeing can be done in a couple days. But during the humid air rainy season, it can take us 2 weeks! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Our timing is determined by Nature’s mood and the climate. While we can’t rush her, the results are always beautiful and worth the wait.”
Natural dyeing processes in Guizhou.
The Angel Chang collection raises awareness about the valorization of traditions and the importance of protecting the precious knowledge of indigenous communities, as well as the value of using locally sourced and organic materials, such as local cotton. The cotton used for the production of the garments is grown on small family farms from April to August in Guizhou, using local native-seeds. The farmers rotate the cotton crops with other vegetables planted throughout the year, using organic farming practices that are healthier for both the farmers and the planet itself. The brand ensures to use materials that come directly from the ground or the surrounding forests, following the natural cycle of plants, creating a relationship of care and reciprocity with Nature. Every garment is made out of only three elements: sun, plants and mountain water.
Valuing traditional craftsmanship - Hand-woven in Guizhou.
