Fashioning a career from culture

While her younger sister became a professional erhu player, Yang chose painting over the instrument because her childhood dream was to become a painter. She learned traditional Chinese and oil painting as a child. In 1990, Yang moved to Shanghai, where she began to study fashion design at Donghua University, formerly known as China Textile University.

"At that time, the job of being a fashion designer is not as popular as today. I chose the major because I love to paint and I love to paint beautiful clothes," recalls Yang.

Right after graduation, she got a job as a fashion designer in Shanghai and worked with a local fashion brand. In 1999, she went to Paris to study fashion design at the ESMOD (Ecole Superieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode), which broadened her vision and developed her own style as a fashion designer.

In 2008, she moved to Benin, in western Africa, along with her husband, who worked for the China's embassy there. Yang worked with local fashion designers and models on projects bridging cultures between the two countries. She also launched painting classes to introduce Chinese painting techniques to local people of Benin.

"It's a great experience to share Chinese culture through fashion design," says Yang.

After a decade of working and living abroad, Yang returned to China in 2011 and joined the China International Exhibition Agency, a company under China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd, the country's State-owned cultural enterprise that has performance and exhibition businesses worldwide.

Though her job with China International Exhibition Agency is a curator, Yang didn't stop designing clothes. Since 2011, she has been designing costumes for China Central Television (CCTV)'s programs and galas. One of the highlights is a gala in 2017 celebrating the Qixi Festival, often known as Chinese Valentine's Day-a traditional festival that falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar. During the gala, Yang displayed 16 sets of clothes designed by herself, including one dress with a handmade magpie image on it. The legend has it that the Qixi Festival day was the only time in the whole year when the cowherd and weaving maid could meet each other. On that day they would come together across a colorful bridge formed by all the magpies in the world, connecting the two sides of the Bright Galaxy.

"I always wanted to create something that would deliver a message showcasing the beauty of Chinese culture," Yang says.