Zoe Xu — stylist & writer, Shanghai
I dress the way I write — layer, cut, change the verb until it sounds right.
orange tote
Words — poems & prose
“What fascinates me is creating layers with different shades of green — a sage trench coat, an olive green shirt, a tea green bag.” From 4 Doses of Style Inspo from Fall 2024 RTW
I spent two years writing about other people's films. Now I'm more interested in
the words themselves. Film reviewing leaves very little room to be creative.
I write in English, my second language, about identity, memory, and what it means
to live between places. More than that, I yearn to create something no one has
written before — in a language I'm less familiar with, where unfamiliarity itself
forces precision and discovery.
You can find my festival reports and film reviews on UK China Film Club and
Private Waves. My personal essays are on my Substack. My first Substack piece was
about Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall and Yiyun Li's
Where Reasons End, in 2023. I haven't stopped since.
Subscribe to Zoe's Collage
Writing
Poems, essays & journalismZoe's Collage Published on my Substack
Day One
“The hanging rack/was merely a hanging rack,/until/it grew your socks and shorts.” A poem in which ordinary things — a drying rack, a detergent smell, a typhoon — stop being ordinary.
Read the poem →Moments Diary
Diary entries from one summer, kept as an exercise in noticing. “I made sure there was no space between my body and the seat as if the closer I pressed myself, the safer I was.” Cicadas, homesickness, and the texture of an ordinary afternoon: “I miss where I come from.”
Read the diary →It's Time to Talk About Sean Baker
Eight features in twenty-four years; a donut-shop quarrel between eight characters shot on three iPhone 5s; two little girls running toward a theme park in the last shot of The Florida Project. “Sean Baker always ends the film somewhere beyond your prediction — surprising, blunt, yet riveting.”
Read the essay →4 Doses of Style Inspo from Fall 2024 RTW
A whole spectrum of green — seaweed to olive to sage — swept the Fall 2024 runways at Saint Laurent, Isabel Marant, Bottega Veneta and Loewe, and then swept her own wardrobe. On the slit skirt, the flat cap, the half-moon bag, and one small hope: “Hope there will be spring in London.”
Read on Substack →Film journalism Written for other outlets
The Testament of Ann Lee
A sacred elegy for a strong-willed, devout female leader — Manchester, 1758, and a woman who becomes Mother Ann. “Suffering, then reborn, the anguish in the woman's body and mind is healed by her worship of God.” On the Shakers, and what survives of them: “At a certain point, we all become one of them.”
Read the review →Kevin Lee on Dongji Island
The British actor on fourteen years in China, on being cast as the villain by Jackie Chan, Zhang Yimou and Wu Jing, and on finally playing the hero. “I really didn't want to do it. But I've learned: never refuse a casting. You just don't know what the movie is.”
Read the interview →Best of Cannes 2025
Five must-see films from the Competition selection — Kelly Reichardt, Óliver Laxe, Julia Ducournau, Joachim Trier and Jafar Panahi. On The Mastermind: “Reichardt tells the story through editing and imagery rather than dialogue, and once again she surprises us with her command of austere filmmaking.”
Read the report →Style
LookbookI started styling in junior high, in a small northeastern city, recreating Hollywood looks I found on the Chinese internet. The first brand contacted me when I had three hundred followers on RedNote.
Twenty-something collaborations later, my style has become clearer to me. I use pops of colour to elevate a minimalist outfit. The styling process itself is what I enjoy most, brainstorming how to build five different looks from one raglan t-shirt. I love how one small detail of a garment can change the whole message. And I want to be able to express who I am in different registers, whether sexy or intellectual. New looks go up on RedNote first.
pink net bag
white Converse
red stripes
red flats
pink lace
striped scarf
leopard hood
striped scarf
About
Zoe Xu
Zoe Xu is a stylist and writer based in Shanghai, previously London.
She has an MA in Film from Goldsmiths and an earlier MSc in Management. Since 2024 she has written reviews, industry pieces and festival reports for UK China Film Club, covering Berlin, Cannes and London, and interviewed actors and filmmakers. Her Substack, Zoe's Collage, has run since 2023.
She is currently available for styling consultation and brand collaboration.
Zoe's Collage
New poems, prose and film reviews.
I send them when they're finished.
Subscribe on Substack