Born in Beijng in 1985, Yin left China at the age of four and she has said that clothes gave her “points of reference” as she moved from country to country. She grew up in a family of antique dealers “surrounded by beautiful, old things”, and later studied at Paris’s National School of Decorative Arts.

Her first collection “Exile” was shown at the 2010 fashion festival at Hyeres in the south of France and also put on display at the French Ministry of Culture. Often characterised as “dreamlike”, her latest collection contains “a lot of Calais lace cut up, made up again, almost pulled to pieces”.

Yin says she chose marine animals as the theme because they prompted a sense of disgust in her which she “found interesting” to transform into “something beautiful and pure”.

With the label starting to sell couture dresses to Chinese and American customers, she acknowledges that they are not for everyone.

“To wear my creations you need to be thin and not to have any fear of being exposed”

Since January 2012, her fashion house has taken part in the couture shows in Paris as a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.