Austin Wang and Yansong Liu are the founders of AO YES, a Chinese fashion label launched in 2022. Wang came from fashion media, including experience at Vogue China, while Liu trained at Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion College, bringing together editorial instinct and formal design expertise.

AO YES places Eastern culture and aesthetics at the center of its design language. The brand reworks Chinese sartorial references — including Mao jackets, tangzhuang silhouettes, qipao elements and historical textiles — through fluid tailoring, contemporary proportions and a distinctly sensual point of view. Rather than treating Chinese tradition as costume, the duo uses it as material for a modern fashion proposition.

The label has quickly become one of the most closely watched names in the new wave of neo-Chinese fashion. International coverage and collaborations, including a Zara capsule in Mainland China, have expanded its audience while its runway collections continue to explore how Chinese cultural memory can inform contemporary style without nostalgia.