Much of this Shanghai Fashion Week has felt like a long simmer, but it finally reached its boiling point with Samuel Guì Yang on the last day of the collections.
Samuel Yang and Erik Litzén put on their runway show at a century-old three-story home nested in a residential alley—a world away from the more commercial areas of the city. In a post-show exchange, they explained that their new collection was based on the concept of the “frame.” Litzén outlined the idea in the context of personhood: self-invention, the lens through which we see others, and the framework we create to exist in. What does it all look like? And, most of all, “does it have to look like that?”
Yang expanded on the concept by mentioning a favorite movie, A Short Film About Love (1988) by Krzysztof Kieslowski, in which a boy becomes enthralled by a woman he observes through his window. “It’s not the frame of the window itself,” Yang said, “but the frame as shortening the connection between inside and outside, and between us and our audience in London and Shanghai.”
On their mood board was Patti Smith, who inspired a pretty incredible bias cut slip dress, and a group of iconic Chinese figures including the essayist Eileen Chang, who was born and raised in Shanghai, and the famed Soong sisters, who became some of the most significant political figures in early 20th century China. Photos of the oldest and youngest sisters, Ai-ling and Mei-ling, respectively, were key references for Yang and Litzén. “We explored ways of taking up bigger space and commanding presence,” said Litzén, “to be bold and soft spoken at the same time.”
The pair are experts in the art of ease. See a red and orange silk sheath worn with its sleeves rolled up, or the way a model wore a shimmering velvet qipao slashed open at the back with her hands inside her pant pockets.
Yang and Litzén understand that ease and simplicity do not translate as no-effort; consider the minute details they so painstakingly added to their clothes: trios of bells at the back of coats or hanging from the fingertips of gloves, touches of electric blue or deep red, a grass-colored wool hat to accentuate a knockout mint-green look.
The mere idea of trying has fallen out of style, with a sort of I-woke-up-like-this look taking over much of fashion. But people have become enamored with projecting intention of late, with exposing the thoughtfulness behind their own frameworks and appetites for self-actualization. This is a refreshing development, and something Yang and Litzén do incredibly well. At the risk of oxymoron, they make intention look mystifyingly effortless.
