These 9 Knitwear Looks Prove You Need To Pay Attention To Shanghai Street Style

Look to Shanghai Fashion Week’s street style for knitwear inspiration.

Shanghai Fashion Week is well underway and aside from serving some choice looks, the fashion capital of China is proving its trendsetting power. Last season, the metropolis was under stringent lockdown restrictions and designers were forced to show their collections virtually in a three-day digital event. This season, 64 designers are joining the nine-day in-person comeback. For the first time in Shanghai, beloved NYC labels Self-Portrait and Private Policy, both Asian-owned, joined the roster of designers, staging their pieces in a showroom. There was also a special focus on local talent, with up-and-coming designers including Annenono, Ao Yes, Yiben Chen, and Yehua Fan making their runway debuts, and joining the ranks of Shanghai Fashion Week veterans Comme Moi, Angus Tsui, and Xu Zhi.

On the streets, the fashion proved to be just as exciting, particularly in knitwear. Guests attended the shows in head-to-toe knits, sporting monochromatic interwoven ensembles with plays on texture, while others had more fun with their form-fitting fabrics, donning pieces with exciting geometric cutouts and playful wavy shapes. It’s not at all unexpected—some of the world’s most innovative knitwear brands including Nan Knits and NYC-based labels Rui Zhou, Social Work, and PH5 have roots in Shanghai (or at least ties to) and the greater China.

Below, 9 knitwear outfits from the streets of Shanghai for inspiration that prove Shanghai fashion—and its strong grasp of yarn manipulation—is a global force.

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