Yiqing Yin : D’air et de songes
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Yiqing Yin : D’air et de songes
135 Quai du Commerce - 62100 CALAIS
Phone
+33 3 21 00 42 30
Openings
| Monday | 10 AM - 00PM |
| Wednesday | 10 AM - 00PM |
| Thursday | 10 AM - 00PM |
| Friday | 10 AM - 00PM |
| Open on Saturday | 10 AM - 00PM |
| Sunday | 10 AM - 00PM |
From June 14, 2025 to January 4, 2026, the City of Lace and Fashion invites you on a sensory journey into the floating world of haute couture by Yiqing Yin. Fabric sculptures, unique fragrances and dreamlike landscapes intertwine for a rare experience, combining contemporary art and exceptional textile expertise.
A designer with many faces, between Paris, Beijing and Calais
Born in Beijing in 1985, Yiqing Yin left China as a child to move to France, then Australia, before returning to study at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris. From the very beginning, her unique vision of couture was praised: she received the Grand Prix de la Création de Paris in 2009, then the ANDAM First Collection prize. In 2011, she entered the very restricted circle of designers invited to Paris Haute Couture Week.
In 2015, it became the first Chinese designer to receive the “Haute Couture” designation, a symbol of exceptional know-how recognized by the Chambre Syndicale.
Among his notable collaborations are the houses Leonard, Poiret or even the jeweler CARTIERShe also designs original pieces for the Venice Biennale, Dubai World Expo, or for the Cannes 2013, where she dresses Audrey Tautou, mistress of ceremonies. She also worked with Marion Cotillard For the movie Annette by Leos Carax, and designed the ballet costumes Tristan and Yseult at the Florence Opera.
©Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones, 2024. Fashion as the poetics of life
The title of the exhibition refers to the work Air and dreams by Gaston Bachelard. This common thread runs through the entire scenography: breath, the invisible, metamorphosis, impermanence. Over 550 m², nearly 70 haute couture creations compose a sensory journey combining textiles, sound, perfume and light.
Yiqing Yin draws her inspiration from the mineral, vegetable and animal, to compose moving forms that do not seek to dress the body, but to reveal its presence. Some dresses seem animated by their own breath, like the dress Orchid or the dress vertebraeThe materials – silks, tulles, Venetian velvets, microencapsulated organza – are worked by hand with a meticulousness that gives each piece the quality of a living sculpture.
©Laurence Laborie The City of Lace and Fashion
An exceptional museum
The Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode, housed in a former factory in the historic district of Calais Sud, is a leading museum dedicated to the world of lace. This expertise, which has profoundly influenced the city's identity, is showcased in a scenography that blends industrial heritage and innovation. Spectacular machines, still in operation, reveal the secrets of machine-made lacemaking, illegally imported from England in the 19th century. A vibrant space at the intersection of history, fashion, and textile innovation.
Touching the Calais-Caudry Lace
WHAT TO SEE IN THE “D'AIR ET DE SONGES” EXHIBITION?
The exhibition journey goes beyond the gaze: it engages all the senses. Rustling air, poems, photographs, and above all exclusive perfumes punctuate the visit. These olfactory creations, resulting from a collaboration with the master perfumer Dominique Ropion, extend the dresses in a sensory wake. The dress Minima Naturalia, for example, releases a fragrance on contact with the skin, designed for the Dubai World Expo.
Yiqing Yin favors an intuitive approach, working directly with the materials. She sculpts the void, folds the light, captures the breath, in an organic relationship with textiles. The visitor is invited to immerse themselves in this creative process, to capture the moment when the material becomes emotion.
The route highlights emblematic pieces such as:
• Orchid Dress (haute couture collection fall-winter 2012)
• Vertebrae Dress (spring-summer 2013 haute couture collection)
©Laurence Laborie 
©Laurence Laborie