SEAN SUEN AUTUMN/WINTER 2025
“The Ancient Tea Horse Road”
Through thousands of years, porters, caravans and mule teams carved out a trade route barely over two feet wide across the vast mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.
The “Tea-Horse Trade” lasting for more than two millennia transformed this ancient network of three major routes into a vital passage connecting southwestern China, Tibetan regions and even neighboring Asian countries. Tea, silk, cordyceps, and safflower traveled on horseback across valleys—gifts of nature that, through human ingenuity, became symbols of the daily lives of people in both Tibetan and Han regions.
As a fashion traveler on horseback, SEAN SUEN 骧孙 attempts in the AUTUMN/Winter 2025 collection to connect the basin and the plateau through clothing. The name “骧” refers to a gallant horse with a white right hind leg, also symbolizing a leap upward. The brand has always sought to use garments as a cultural vehicle, promoting the exchange between East and West on both physical and spiritual levels. Looking back at the thousand-year-old caravans accompanied by the crisp sounds of horse bells, people today still see the same bright moon above the mountains.
At the moment the bells ring, SEAN SUEN’s Autumn/Winter 2025 collection retraces this millennia-old route through multiple perspectives—the natural eye, the human gaze, and the contemplation of all living creatures—tracing and uncovering its rich symbolism and unique visual identity. Along the way, the blending of Han, Tibetan, Naxi, Bai, and other ethnic cultures created the diverse spirituality and aesthetics that form the soul of the Tea Horse Road. This season, we reinterpret the spirit of the road and its multi-ethnic aesthetics through the language of fashion, building a grand avenue that transcends the boundaries of time and space, connecting the past and the future.
Drawing colors from the landscapes traversed by the Tea Horse Road, SEAN SUEN restores the majesty of the plateau. In the face of unique terrain and nature’s trials, humans learned to find vitality amid towering mountains and steep ridges by resembling birds and animals, plants and mountains. Every courier station and village along the road represents humble yet practical adaptations to the natural environment. For the AUTUMN/Winter 2025 collection, we carefully combine natural materials like wool and leather with modern technological fabrics, balancing functionality and comfort as a response to the rugged, simple lifestyle of the ancient road—and as a reflection and preview of future ways of living. By exploring the traditional clothing, customs, and beliefs of the diverse ethnic groups along the route, we use fashion as a metaphorical steed, creatively retracing the Tea Horse Road.
Where we tread today, will be tomorrow’s Tea Horse Road.
"茶马古道"
背侠、驮队、马帮在青藏与云贵高原的万里山间走出仅两尺余宽的商路。
延续了两千余年的“茶马互市”让三条大道组成的古道成为西南网罗藏地乃至亚洲邻国的重要通路。茶叶、丝绸、虫草、红花在马背上穿越山谷，这些自然的馈赠在人类的巧作下成为藏区与汉区人民饮食起居的缩影。
SEAN SUEN骧孙作为马背上的时装行者，在2025秋冬季尝试着将盆地与高原用服装连在一起。SEAN SUEN骧孙的骧字意为右后足为白色的骏马，更有向上腾跃的意涵，品牌也一直在尝试用衣服作为文化的交通工具，推进东方与西方在物理与精神层面的流动。回望千年马帮商队伴着清脆的马铃声，举头望山月，人们看到的仍旧是同一轮清晖。
在马铃声响起的一刻，SEAN SUEN 2025秋冬系列以自然之眼、人类之眸、万物之思多个视角重走这条历经千年的茶马古道，追溯与挖掘其丰富的象征意义与独特的视觉风貌；沿途汉族、藏族、纳西族、白族等多民族交流融汇出的多元民族文化与信仰才是茶马古道的灵魂所在。本季我们用时装语言重述古道的精神意涵与多民族美学，搭建出跨越时间与空间界限的、连接过去与未来的大道。
SEAN SUEN 从茶马古道穿越的天地提取色彩，还原高原风貌的雄浑。在独特的地貌情况与自然严苛的试炼中，取材飞禽走兽、草木山川，人类学会在崇山峻岭间觅得生机。古道沿途的每一处驿站、每一个村落都是人们顺应自然后，适度改造的朴素实践。2025秋冬系列，我们将自然馈赠的天然材料羊毛、皮革等与现代科技面料审慎结合，充分兼顾服装功能性与舒适性，作为对古道粗犷、质朴生活方式的回应，亦是对未来生活方式的反思与预演——探索沿途不同民族的传统服饰、风俗信仰，以服装作为可视化马匹，创造性地重走茶马古道。
今时脚下行履处，皆为明日茶马途。
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