Jasmine Zhou Debuts Line Hudiefly at DC Fashion Week

By Jane Chun

Photo Credit: Jasmine Zhou

DC Fashion Week (DCFW) featured many local designers at the Emerging Designer Showcase at the Washington Post Conference Center on Sep.28. Among the designers include the first Chinese-American designer Jasmine (Lingfei) Zhou, founder and CEO of Hudiefly. Hudiefly is a graphic and ready to wear brand founded in 2012. According to the Hudiefly website, “HudieFly, taken from “hudie” which means butterfly in Mandarin Chinese, intertwines the designer’s love and fascination of the ideals and beauty that is behind a butterfly’s metamorphosis which signifies a woman’s life journey. Each season is inspired by timelessness, comfort and subtle sensuality rather than trend. “

In creating Hudiefly, Zhou’s unique utopian business model fosters designers and artists the platform to create art inspired pieces using eco friendly materials whenever possible and donates 10% of the profits to various charities including the Humane Society, and St. Jude’s Hospital.. Asian Fortune got to talk to Zhou to find out more about her company and her experience at DCFW.

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Is this your first time showcasing at DC Fashion Week?

It is…we just found it in 2012 so this is our very first fashion show ever.

Are you a DC native?

I was born in Beijing and I came to the U.S. when i was 13 but I’ve been basically DC metropolitan area based the entire time.

You don’t have fashion background – how did you come to designing clothes?

I have wanted to major in fashion merchandising in college but being a Chinese-American it was a very sort of faux paus thing to do with my traditional family who didn’t get that notion so I wasn’t really able to pursue this career in my 20s. Eventually as I grew into my own person more, having been somewhat successful in my other entrepreneurial endeavors, I was able to have the financial resources and the space to do something just out of passion. So last year while I was on business trips to China, I started working with tailors to make pieces for my own personal interest and when I brought them back, I started getting a lot feedback from people even just random people on the streets that really inspire me to make it to the next level and make it to a business. So then we started with the graphic line which is the lowest entry way into fashion. When we say graphic fashion, we mean we take original artwork from an artist, such as a photograph, a painting, an illustration or typography and translate it onto a piece of clothing, such as a tee shirt, tank top, sweatshirt, we also print on tote bags, pillow cases and cell phone cases currently.

Tell me about how you work with your designers

I…work with artists and designers that are formally trained, that are really talented in their craft but don’t have the business platform to present their pieces and designs. So by working with them providing them the platform, we’re able to collaborate…and [nurture] new designers and artists.

I noticed philanthropy is a huge part of Hudiefly. Tell me about how Hudiefly gives back to the community.

I want to create beauty and love and just have as much to be given back as possible. I want to change the world with fashion, I know it sounds a little ambitious but it’s kind of where I want to see our company go.

You know through my life experience I somehow came upon them from various reasons, from when I traveled to where ever organic connection to them but as the company grows, our business model is to have our consumers, our customers vote on the causes and charities that we would donate to in the future.

Who is your fashion inspiration?

Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe are both our inspiration for our company line. It doesn’t matter what generation or era they’re in, their beauty and fashion sense is just to be celebrated across the board and I think that type of women in general are my heroes. I aspire to be those kinds of women who don’t fall into a box, you know those parameters on how to wear fashion but they define fashion on their own terms and lead generations to follow. And thats the kind of inspiration that we have in our brand is to create pieces, we don’t want to do fast fashion. We want to create clothing that you could wear years, and maybe pass it to your daughters.

Being the first Chinese-American designer to premiere at the DC Fashion Week, do you feel any pressure representing the Asian community?

You know it’s because I’m such a free spirited person that I never really think that way. I don’t want to feel pressured to do anything to define myself in any way so I kind of refuse to go in that direction. Of course my culture and ethnicity is a part of who I am and in some of my designs, I can’t help but relay that part of my life into my work. I think Washington DC is a very diverse platform and city and I don’t think I felt necessarily boxed in that way.

Any advice for those who have also grown up in a strict household that don’t believe in fashion as a real career path?

For my personal experience, I’m not sure if I’ll be offending Asian parents out there because my advice to any person, the younger girls that work with me, [is to] always follow their heart and be who you are. Our parents always think they know the best for us and they come from the best of intentions but at the end of the day it’s our journey that’s unique, it’s not the same as your parents, just stay true to yourself and there’s no compromise. But you obviously do it in a way that’s respectful as possible.