Yi Li

Yi is a New York–based fashion designer born in Beijing and raised between China and the United States. Her work is shaped by cross-cultural experiences and explores identity, belonging, and adaptation through draping, reconstruction, and material experimentation. Her thesis project, Nowhere Everywhere, examines the relationship between containment and disorder, using garments that shift from structured to relaxed forms. Often working with up-cycled materials, Yi transforms personal rituals into form, creating pieces that exist between structure and softness, where belonging emerges through disorganization.