Yuchen Yuan
Published: @sickymag
Photographer: @balint.barna
Stylist: @princeaboraah
Model: @nelson_ogah
Grooming: @vivianemelomua
Casting: @geegeewatson
Yuchen Yuan builds her world through obsession. Each collection begins with a character, a figure that exists between desire and disturbance. She treats fashion as psychological theatre, where garments become symptoms of tension, seduction, and decay. The effect is cinematic, every look feels like a frame suspended between fantasy and confession. Her fascination with villains runs deep.
To her, they represent the most honest expression of human instinct. Villains act without shame, following their desires to the edge of destruction. They are dangerous because they are complete. Yuan finds beauty in that contradiction: power that reveals weakness, elegance that trembles with fear.
Your work often sits between fantasy and reality, creating characters that feel both seductive and unsettling. How do you build the psychological narrative behind a collection?
Just like American Horror Story, I try to portray an intense psychological experience. It’s a sense of mystery that slowly drives you insane, you become trapped in your own mind, paranoid and unable to tell dreams from reality. The psychological tension is what seduces you. It's like you’re trying to keep things under control, but already losing yourself as you chase it, and you feel a thrilling pleasure in the madness.
What attracts you to the figure of the villain as a recurring presence in your work?
Villains are hot. They’re often complicated and full of contrast in their characters, and their danger makes them more attractive. Most importantly, a villain figure to me is somehow more of a complete person, because they follow their desires without shame.
There is a clear cinematic quality to your collections — do you start your process with a story, an image, or a character?
Always with a character.
How does humor function in your universe, especially within darker or erotic themes?
I see humor more as a means than a result, maybe it’s just the way I transform ideas into real designs. But I think I do have a little bit of camp and pop art in spirit, it makes the darkness feel more performative and more playful.
Leather has become a key material in your visual language. What does it represent for you in relation to masculinity and control?
Leather is sleek and sexy, I like men in leather that shows a traditional "masculinity". Leather has weight, it gives you power, but it also means it can hide all your insecurities, so you feel under control wearing it.
In my universe, I want to maintain that surface control and polish but also break it. I’ve been trying to build a powerful shell, while leaving some space to intentionally expose the real desires and weaknesses inside. Leather is the perfect material that allows me to explore this kind of contrast.
Photographer: @da_daoss
Art direction: @littlegrapepip @da_daoss
Model: Christian Deal, @denis.brent
Hmua: @malikacmakeup
You often play with tailored structures and muscular forms — how do you translate the idea of the body into garment construction?
It’s all after a tailoring project I did at uni, I took Tom of Finland as inspiration and combined his signature hypermasculine body with gangster pinstripe suit, to make the suit itself into a very muscular body. It’s my favorite project and I’m so glad I found this way! And the fun thing is, when you think about tailoring pieces, their construction is just as complicated as how the muscles work together.
Horror, surrealism, and eroticism coexist in your designs. How do you find equilibrium between seduction and discomfort?
I think discomfort is a part of seduction.
Your silhouettes often amplify masculinity to the point of exaggeration. Do you see this as critique, homage, or transformation?
It’s more of a transformation, I took masculinity as a symbol and amplified its traits in a stereotypical way. It’s also a fantasy of my own ideal "masculine" figure.
How do you approach research when preparing a new collection — do you collect visual references, watch films, or write narratives?
I do watch films and collect visual references on the surface, but what really guides me to shape a collection is listening to a lot of music and immersing myself enough to figure out the narratives that I want to say.
What role does performance play in your understanding of menswear?
I think it’s a slit, it can reveal something you don’t really show and also welcoming the world to know you a bit more. It’s a way to express whatever you want to do or want to become, no matter in a subtle way or an outrageous way. And it gives you confidence of , ‘Oh! I can actually do / be that!’ Or ‘ I am more me!’ And then it gradually seep into your identity, until it’s not a performance anymore.
Especially for menswear, although we’ve already have a wide range of styles today and I feel like we’ve almost seen them all, but I think the awareness of performance is actually just starting. To me, I feel like for men who’s trying to explore performance through their looks, they always end up fall into some certain categories, which it’s not a bad thing cause these categories will evolve as people coming in, but it could also become boring. I wish to see people to be braver to explore more on the performance, and as a designer, I wish I could have the ability to create the platform for them to do it.
How do you imagine the evolution of your characters and stories in future collections?
I'd like them more grounded and more diverse, the characters I create so far are all fantasies, sometimes I couldn’t even imagine a face for them, which limits possibilities and connection to real people. In the future collections, I want to explore more mundane stories, might come from myself or the culture I love, while still finding a balance with my fantasy world.
Published: @schonmagazine
Photographer: @gomezdevillaboa
Stylist: @annazamor.a
Model: @ohlydiagraham
Makeup: @kevin.cordo
Photographer: @da_daoss
Art direction: @littlegrapepip @da_daoss
Model: Christian Deal, @denis.brent
Hmua: @malikacmakeup
Interview by Donald Gjoka
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