Models present Exception's 2017 spring/summer collection and its signature pieces from the past.

Mao's interest goes beyond fashion. He opened Fang Suo Commune in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou to offer a multifunctional space that combines a bookstore, cafe and gallery in a modern Oriental mix, in 2011. That was a time when the traditional publishing industry started to tumble because of a rise in online reading.

"People say we are crazy... But I only follow my heart."

The commune now has branches in the cities of Chengdu, Chongqing and Qingdao.

His other project is The Mix Place, an integrative space that offers fashion, art and design. It was opened last year in Shanghai as he wanted to help the local residents revive an intellectual culture that existed in the city in the 1920s and '30s.

"I want to revive that and give the young creative people a place to communicate and create," he says.

Along with veteran Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto, Mao also built YmoyNot as a platform for young emerging designers in Asia.

"No matter how the trends change, we are still making clothes."

Exception is going to hold a retrospective exhibition in Guangzhou from Nov 25 through December.

Contact the writer at sunyuanqing@chinadaily.com.cn