Press Release
A' Design Award in Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design Goes to Aphros Transformable Bottomwear by Ke Jiang
Ke Jiang recognized for fashion, apparel and garment design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, September 24, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Aphros Transformable Bottomwear by Ke Jiang, designed for Divine The Shop, has been granted the A' Design Award in the Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design category. The award was conferred within the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the A' Design Award
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
Regarding Aphros Transformable Bottomwear
Aphros is a modular fashion system featuring a sculpted bodysuit with Victorian-inspired sleeves and interchangeable bottom pieces. Designed for sustainable versatility, it enables seamless transition from casual to formal wear through its innovative connectable design. The garment integrates technical materials and embodies a narrative of transformation and adaptive elegance.
About Ke Jiang
Ke Jiang is a designer and educator currently serving as faculty in Visual Communication Design at the Communication University of China. Born in China and having studied in France and the United States, she brings a cross-cultural perspective to her creative and academic practice. Her work explores the integration of narrative concepts with functional garment systems, often focusing on sustainable transformation and adaptive wear. Jiang’s approach combines material experimentation with cultural research, reflecting her commitment to innovation in both design and teaching.
Award Record
With this recognition, Ke Jiang is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design Award
The A' Fashion Design Award is an international fashion design competition recognizing good fashion designs by best fashion designers and brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to fashion designers, apparel designers, garment designers and textile designers from all countries. Entries typically include runway collections, dresses, suits, skirts, outerwear and jackets. Awarded fashion designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/fashion
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/176779
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/176779
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!176779
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/374062
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Aphros Transformable Bottomwear
- Function
- Transformable Bottomwear
- Category
- Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design
- Discipline
- Fashion Design
- Industry
- Fashion
- Colors
- Black, Dim Gray, Burly Wood, Light Pink and Saddle Brown
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Divine The Shop
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Ke Jiang
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #176779
Credits
- Image Credits
- Illustrator Ke Jiang & AI, Aphros Main Look, 2022.; Detail Photographer Ke Jiang, 2023.; Styling Photographer Ke Jiang, 2023.; AI Visualization Designer Ke Jiang, 2025.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Aphros is a transformative fashion system centered on a sculpted, techinfused bodysuit. Its core innovation lies in modular versatility: the minimalist lower body serves as a base for infinite styling, from tailored trousers to evening skirts, redefining sustainable elegance. Victorian-inspired sleeves and scalelike mesh merge narrative depth with cutting edge materiality, offering a single garment that adapts to modern life’s diverse contexts.
- Inspiration
- Aphros draws inspiration from the metamorphosis of a mermaid ascending to land, a metaphor for adaptability and identity transformation. The vision was to create a sustainable, versatile garment that empowers personal expression across contexts. Technically, it integrates advanced translucent polymers for second-skin comfort and modular construction, reducing wardrobe volume while elevating aesthetic and functional elegance through narrative-driven innovation.
- Research
- This project combined market research and material experimentation to address the need for versatile, sustainable fashion. We aimed to create a garment that reduces overconsumption while adapting to various lifestyles. Through user interviews and wear-testing prototypes with women in urban environments, we gathered feedback on comfort, style flexibility, and usability. Insights revealed strong demand for modular clothing that balances aesthetics with function. The research directly informed Aphros’s interchangeable system, influencing both its design and ethical mission—offering a practical yet innovative solution that promotes conscious consumption in daily life.
- Challenge
- Aphros bridges French romanticism, expressed through its dramatic sleeves, with contemporary wearable needs. While the initial proposal of bold sleeves with ultra-short bottoms challenged local aesthetic preferences, we introduced a convertible one piece system. This adapts to diverse styling contexts, aligning with modern women's demand for both functionality and expressive elegance.
- Realization and Technology
- Aphros is constructed using advanced seamless knitting technology for the stretch cotton base layer, ensuring second skin comfort and precision fit. The Victorian inspired sleeves employ sculptural tailoring with internal boning and foam structuring, while the scale like mesh overlay is laser-cut from sustainable polymer textiles. Modular connectors are integrated via magnetic fastenings, allowing effortless interchange of bottomwear components. The translucent polymer elements are thermoformed to body contours, combining couture craftsmanship with wearable-tech innovation.
- Operation and Interaction
- Aphros works like a core piece you build upon. The top stays on as your style base. To change your look, you simply snap off the current bottom piece and attach a new one—like switching accessories. You can go from daytime pants to an evening skirt in moments. It performs better because it reduces closet clutter, supports sustainable fashion, and offers endless outfit possibilities with one intelligent garment.
- Project Duration and Location
- The concept was initially conceived during studies in Paris in 2015. Development continued following the establishment of my studio in Beijing, with the design finalized in 2022. The piece debuted through Swiss brand Divine The Shop and is currently available via the D2C (Designer to Customer) platform in China.
- Specifications
- The garment utilizes stretchknit technology with biobased elastic yarns, offering adaptive fit for wearers between 160-180cm height. The modular connectors employ magnetic attachment systems compatible with various bottomwear components. Lasercut mesh overlays are precision-engineered to 0.5mm thickness, while the sculptural sleeves incorporate lightweight foam internal structures for volume retention. The entire system is designed for machine washability and modular disassembly.
- Keywords
- Transformable Fashion, Modular Clothing System, Sustainable Design, Victorian-inspired Sleeves, Mermaid Mythology, Convertible Garment, Versatile Styling
