Emporio Armani global ambassador Jackson Yee is magnetic in a bold shade of red in his limited edition East-meets-West collaboration with the brand.
Red is a colour that has historically been associated with things like courage, power and love. All these share a common trait in their sense of intensity; this colour has the ability to stir emotions, and when used to anchor a garment collection that celebrates a culture that places such a big emphasis on that same colour, the outcome is a seamless and effortless coming together of time and space.
Throw in an element of sustainability and the volume of the messaging is amped up even higher. Emporio Armani’s latest collaboration with its global ambassador Jackson Yee is an example of such a passionate meeting.
This limited edition of clothes and accessories takes Chinese culture as the main source of inspiration, with the Chinese actor, dancer and singer tastefully rearranging the Chinese character of “hu” or protect, to align with the sustainability-driven vision of the project.
To be more specific, the Chinese characters are placed in a tianzige (a template for regulating Chinese character writing), with top, bottom, left and right patterns rotating clockwise to form complete closed loops. The cyclical visual’s aim is to express the philosophical view of traditional Chinese culture where everything grows and changes according to the natural cycling law of life’s symbiotic relationships — a natural force that humans can’t ignore.
Using fabrics, processes and embellishments that are fully responsible for the environment, such as recycled down, fabrics with recycled fibres and patchworks made of production scraps, the production is designed to reduce its impact on the environment to the minimum. The collection has waterproof down jackets that combine technology with style, jackets made of recycled technical fabric, T-shirts made of soft organic cotton, and recycled wool blend hats and gloves.
All these feature a unique colour palette that contrasts the traditional Chinese ink colour with vibrant red, soft white and warm beige.
With street style’s appreciation for technical wear on the rise, this comes at a perfect time for those visiting colder holiday destinations to consider as outfit inspiration or actual pieces to buy. Yee flaunts the strong character of the collection in a leisurely manner, making the red of the collection not only subtle enough to wear in a monochrome outfit, but bold enough to stand alone against any other texture or colour. 
As every Chinese character is complex and yet undeniably a mere poetry of dots and lines, this Emporio Armani collection reminds one to be at peace and firm in the expression of one’s identity.
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