Hu Sheguang debuts new haute couture collection in Beijing

Qu'er(literally opera or melody), a new haute couture collection by renowned Chinese-Dutch designer Hu Sheguang, made its worldwide debut with a runway show on Sunday in Beijing as part of the 2025 Spring/Summer Beijing Fashion Week.

A Peking Opera enthusiast, Hu drew inspiration from the UNESCO Cultural Intangible Heritage for the new series. He designed over 100 garments featuring only red and black—the main tone of his eponymous brand and two of the top five colors(red, yellow, green, white, and black)in the centuries-old art, for the new series.

Clad in a flowing red dress, dancer Guo Shuang kicked off the fashion show with a nesmerizing solo performance set to the ethereal singing of Manchurian musician Bayin Hehe.

Hu's new creations highlight the designer's longstanding commitment to integrating Chinese cultural elements into fashion. The bold, maverick couturier celebrated his Mongolian heritage by drawing inspiration from traditional Mongolian clothing and accessories. Believing that fashion is all about innovation and breaking boundaries, Hu has transformed dongbei dahua, a lowly print popular in Northeast China's rural areas, into sought-after high fashion.

Aside from the striking colors, the Qu'er collection features multiple elements from Peking Opera, including tassels and pom poms, two essential parts in the Peking Opera headdresses and tassels. The half-face masks, also in red or black, which models wear or carry in hand, remind viewers of lianpu, which depict the images and personalities of various characters in Peking Opera.

Another highlight of the series is its heavy use of geometrical shapes such as cubes, balls, and slender cones arranged like spikes growing out of the body, which create architectural silhouettes and echo the theatricality of the Peking Opera.