seventyfive is pleased to introduce you to our third season, Pomelo. Pomelo is a collection of womenswear and unisex pieces inspired by our archival research on magazine culture in 1930s China. With Pomelo, seventyfive is introducing you to both a collection of clothing and the broader world of Pomelo, a multi-media project integrating fashion, photography, writing and archival research, available online and in print.
Pomelo is inspired by Linglong 玲瓏, a Shanghai based women’s magazine published during the 1930s. Many of the garments that makeup this collection are based on garments, looks and silhouettes found during our research within the Linglong archives. In this blog post we share some information on how the collection was inspired by Linglong.
If you want to understand the design journey we went on for Pomelo you can also explore the five volume self-published magazine we produced for this multimedia project, also called Pomelo. Available for free to view online, and soon to be available for purchase in our , Pomelo is a mixture of photography, interview and graphic design that puts the garments and the people in them alongside content from Linglong. The content that influenced this collection was not just the photography and design found in Linglong, but also the stories we found in the letters section of Linglong.
In the letters section of Linglong readers would send in stories of their lives, photos of themselves and questions to editor and occasional agony aunt, Chen Zhenling. We found the letters that readers of Linglong sent in a fascinating window into how people in 1930s China were dealing with the same questions many of our friends are dealing with today: relationships, wanting to remain unmarried, the pressures of pregnancy, sexuality, gender and gender inequality. Reading the letters section of Linglong, one could be mistaken for thinking these were questions from young people in the 2020s, which is why we interviewed people around us to see their perspective on the issues discussed in Linglong.
Pomelo magazine, with Jane wearing the Long Petal Skirt, in black, and our inspiration image from Linglong.
Our interview and photoshoot with Charlie, wearing the Mid-Length Petal Skirt and Knot Shirt, in white.
The interviews we conducted and photographs we took are in the self-published magazine, Pomelo. The first-half of every issue of Pomelo is editorial content, while the second-half reflects on the archival research we did with Linglong, helping readers understand the inspiration behind the garments in the collection. We hope you enjoy the exploration of 1930s China that we are undertaking with Pomelo, and please tell us what you think. This was an inspiring process for everyone at seventyfive, and we were happy to work with everyone involved in Pomelo, in all its formats.
Pomelo’s look book images are available here. To explore the collection in more detail, use the gallery below or go to our store.