On September 19, 2026, HUBING SELECTS presented “Urban Grace: Leather & Light” in London, United Kingdom, as part of the official London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2027 schedule. Maruyama Aya, a doctoral candidate at the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University, served as the show’s sole designer, independently designing all 46 looks, comprising nearly 150 garments. Through material exploration and structural innovation, she expanded leather’s expressive possibilities, developing a contemporary fashion language that balances strength with fluidity through the interplay of firmness and softness. With traditional Chinese botanical dyeing techniques, part of the country’s intangible cultural heritage, integrated into the collection, her work showcased the depth of expertise and creative vision of the Academy’s students on the international stage.
Maruyama Aya taking her bow and thanking the audience after the show
This marked Maruyama Aya’s third appearance at London Fashion Week within a year. Her practice has continued to evolve: from her first presentation as lead designer working alongside other designers, to an exhibition exploring contemporary expressions of traditional craftsmanship, and now to independently designing the garments for an entire runway show. Approximately 60 days of intensive preparation involved coordinating the collection with footwear, headwear and accessories, while establishing a coherent design language across the looks. The undertaking demonstrated her ability to manage the scale of a full collection, the relationships between materials and the overall presentation.
Behind the scenes at London Fashion Week
The show was presented by Hu Bing, founder of HUBING SELECTS, Global Ambassador for London Fashion Week and British Fashion Council Ambassador, together with members of the “100 Faces of Fashion Going Global Initiative.” As the initiative’s founder and the show’s organizer, Hu Bing provided a platform for the collection and coordinated materials and industry resources to help bring the designs to fruition. From the initial design discussions in late June to the runway presentation on September 19, this collaboration provided the support Maruyama Aya needed to concentrate on design and production. It also reflected the initiative’s mission to support emerging design talent and foster international exchange.
Maruyama Aya and Hu Bing after the show
“To make leather softer, and to give soft materials strength” was the central idea behind Maruyama Aya’s work for this collection. Responding to the theme of “Urban Grace,” she approached clothing as a flexible boundary between the body and the world. Drawing on the structural principles of historical armor and protective equipment, she reimagined the relationship between body and garment through enclosure and expansion, support and flow. Clothing thus became a space in which to ground the self and experience the world, offering a sense of shelter while preserving an openness to what lies beyond—a quiet yet assured strength expressed through suppleness.
The interplay of leather and sheer fabrics gave tangible form to this design concept. Through construction and craftsmanship, Maruyama Aya reconciled differences in weight, texture and form, lending leather lightness and flexibility while retaining its structural support, and giving lightweight textiles a defined silhouette without diminishing their fluidity. As the body moved and the light shifted, the materials brought out one another’s qualities, creating a subtle balance between strength and lightness.
Continuing her research into traditional Chinese dyeing and weaving, she also incorporated botanical dyeing techniques rooted in intangible cultural heritage into the collection. Their natural colors enriched the materials’ visual depth, allowing the subtle qualities of traditional craftsmanship to resonate with contemporary silhouettes and contribute to her interpretation of “Urban Grace.”
The collection’s narrative began in Shanghai and London in the 1930s before extending into imagined futures in 2030 and 3030, using clothing to connect visions of urban life across different eras. Traditional textiles, leather and futuristic silhouettes together created the collection’s visual layers. They also echoed HUBING SELECTS’ “Finishing in China” proposition for the season, highlighting how material processing, technical development and skilled craftsmanship support design expression.
The show attracted widespread attention and praise from media outlets and fashion professionals in China and abroad, as well as from attendees, for its forward-looking design and thoughtful integration of traditional craftsmanship into contemporary fashion. From sustained research into traditional techniques to the independent design of a complete collection, Maruyama Aya has closely connected her academic studies with international fashion practice. The presentation demonstrated the comprehensive capabilities of the Academy’s students in working with materials, creatively adapting traditional techniques and developing cohesive collections. It also reflected the Academy’s achievements in cultivating talent through an approach that brings cultural heritage and design innovation together, offering a new example of how traditional Chinese craftsmanship can find contemporary expression and reach international audiences.
