CASETiFY Reset “Fashion Composition”

Between canvas and coordinates

The mobile phone is gradually becoming an “externalized” organ of human beings that is constantly being updated and evolved, and more aesthetic “internalized” possibilities are gradually being explored in its non-functional options.

A point of departure

CASETiFY is not only a necessary practical tool, but also a window to present style. Through fashionable electronic accessories such as phone cases, CASETiFY displays aesthetic slices of one’s daily life, linking people and inspirational spatial configurations like a thread. On the canvas of CASETiFY, whether it is Gen-X, Gen-Y or Gen-Z, one can find one’s inner position projected to external coordinates even under the intensity of a thousand faces.

Finding the coordinates of 121 degrees and 30 minutes east longitude and 31 degrees and 15 minutes north latitude, from the silt beach by the Huangpu River to the mottled picture scrolls of the Bund Complex standing to this day have never stopped annotating, just as the Shanghai Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2024, which kicked off on March 25th, is witnessing the “chain of newness” of China’s fashion industry for the past two decades along the unique texture of the Magic City between the old and the new of the times.

The Art of Knitting Combined

Newness is a constant theme in the cycle, and fashion is more than ever focused on technology, functionality, and the creative story behind it, but it’s the more personal expression that really inspires the design itself. As one of the fastest-growing tech accessory brands, CASETiFY has been creating crossover co-branding projects since its inception, featuring a number of female creators from a wide range of fields.

CASETiFY wants the masses to find a style that resonates with them, and aspires to create their own style with each creator, – “This influence is like a catalyst, enabling new forms of self-expression every day” .
In recent years, women’s ideas about themselves have become a style icon that can’t be ignored, and CASETiFY, which has always emphasized self-expression, is quick to join forces with the pioneering designer incubator LABELHOOD and knitwear designer Hanqing Ding to bring you a unique co-branded collection.

This is a deep crossover inspired by Gide’s “Food for the People”, a self-identifying expression that brings “fashion composition” into a new context of technological accessories.

With the HANQING DING Fall/Winter 24 collection, the theme of the CASETiFY X LABELHOOD X HANQING DING co-branded collection – “The Wandering She” – was unveiled at the Shanghai Fashion Week show.

“The combination of modern technological product periphery and knitting art is a brand new challenge in itself”, and the first creative collaboration with CASETiFY has also allowed Hanking to feel the absorption and release outside of the order, “We are used to using knitting as a warm, textured material for fashion or home.

And now we try to translate the visual and tactile elements of this material into the design language of cell phone cases. Whether it’s for the knit designers themselves or CASETiFY I think it’s a very new experiment.”

Turning to the co-branded collection, it is easy to see that CASETiFY’s defense of design aesthetics is as strong as ever. Using light and shadow and yarn as media, along with designer Hancheng’s unique knitting deconstruction techniques such as twisting, splicing and asymmetrical design, it forms a very powerful, inclusive, open and free attitude of women.

For this collaboration, HANQING chose black, white and purple as the main colors for the co-branded collection, “Black, white and purple have always existed in HANQING DING’s brand color palette.In society’s stereotype, boys are always blue and girls are always pink. So okay, so we are a combination of blue + pink – purple.”

She wants to give girls a purple color that is not defined by gender because the freedom of purple always has a rich dimension of transformation, “From pink purple to blue purple, purple always has its own space to play, and everyone has their own say in choosing the purple color that she/he loves.”

Experimenting with the soft material properties of knitting, Hanking chose to print tense and randomly shaped knitted textures on the phone cases. The silk threads symbolize the intertwining of the possible and the impossible – the “Boundless” of the collaboration.
The mirrored phone case glows with beaded fabric, as if it were a starburst on the border between freedom and rebellion. The free stretching of the knitted mesh and the wandering boundaries are like the infinite possibilities of a girl’s creative life.

The loose knit texture, just like the swaying female figure, is loose, relaxed, free and self-contained.
This is a quiet moment given to them by Hankyoreh, where the girls face their true selves in this free purple space.

If a cool 26 degrees and midnight are the set temperature and time for the “Wandering Her” collection, the story of the moon goddess Selene takes us to a more distant universe. –This is the “Dream of Selene” from the collaboration, a miniature world of CASETiFY cases featuring the moon goddess wearing a crescent moon crown and driving a carriage through the stars. Symbolizing independence and mystery, Selene travels in a dream world, just like the girls who yearn for the adventure of the unknown in their dreams.

On the purple mirrored phone case, Selene wears a knitted and beaded robe in the style of HANQING DING.
She is no longer just a goddess described in myths and legends as “pure and faithful”; she is rebellious and bold, growing wildly in the night, wandering freely and crossing all established boundaries.

Rangers, start the journey

LABELHOOD, the incubation platform for pioneering designers, also expresses their language and attitude in this co-branded product – “Per aspera ad astra”. Using the Latin proverb “Per aspera ad astra” as a guide, a heart yearning for freedom beats passionately in the palm of a tightly clenched hand.

In the world of cell phone cases created by CASETiFY X Labelhood X HANQING DING, creativity has no boundaries, and there is no distinction between genders. On this small canvas, the girls are expressing their unfulfilled dreams, and “letting their phone cases become part of their story”.

“Throw this book away once you’ve finished it, and then travel – may it provoke in you the desire to travel, to leave wherever it may be, to leave your city, your home, your abode, and even your thoughts.” This is the quote Gide wrote in his prose poem, “Food for the Earth”.

Always seize every moment of joy and passion on the path of pursuing the true self, abandon purposefulness, let self-passion guide the direction of life, not bound by dogma, and pursue the true self in the journey – this is also the inspiration for CASETiFY and HANQING to create the “Wandering Her!

In Hanking’s opinion, “Wandering She” symbolizes the process of exploring the depths of life in the years when everyone is growing recklessly. “It encourages women to pay attention to their inner feelings and search for their true selves, presenting her who is at ease, free, not kidnapped and not tied down.”

Hanking explains the design theme of the “Wandering She” series in this way – to be loyal to oneself, to pursue the true self, and to bravely embrace the appearance of the true self, this is the truest starting point for the journey of the “Wandering She” series. This is the true starting point of the “Wanderlust” series.

Can a woman see herself in only one way? How many different ways can she recognize herself? Is she willing to express herself in any context? When does she choose to hide her true self? How does a woman express her thoughts, ideas, wishes, desires? Which colors, patterns, textures, styles are used to express it?

“Stay true to yourself” – Hanking emphasized the importance of this brand philosophy throughout the interview. She hopes to break the traditional image of women, and through visual and tactile means to output a unique tone of aesthetic and emotional expression, in the “soft” and “bone” to give the new generation of feminism.

In CASETiFY’s creative universe, cell phone cases are a drawing board to depict oneself and a door to different creative worlds. CASETiFY encourages everyone to draw their unique stroke to express their inspiration, creativity, personality, and attitude.

CASETiFY supports women’s self-expression and creativity, and hopes that girls will express their true selves on the canvas of their cell phone cases, unlocking an unknown universe of creativity, and letting their cell phone cases become a window to narrate the stories of their lives.

It is hoped that with CASETiFY X LABELHOOD X HANQING DING’s “Wandering Her” co-branded series of products, every girl will find her true self, and start the journey of searching for truth freely.

They are loyal to themselves and don’t bother to prove it to anyone; they love who they are at every moment and want to be real without having to be perfect.

News resource from LOFFICIEL,March 2024