March 3, 2025 |
Katie Grand looks relaxed the day before the Susan Fang show in Milan. The young designer is showing as part of Dolce & Gabbana’s support programme for emerging fashion talents and everything is organised. Fang and her team are busy assembling 3D printed dresses whilst Grand takes a break from styling to talk about her involvement with Dolce & Gabbana’s innovative designer support programme. Launched in 2021, it came about after super-stylist Grand and her Perfect Magazine colleague Edward Buchanan, sat down with the designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana to work out how best to support the next generation of design talent.
“I’d observed or been inside a lot of prizes, and I thought that there was a different way to do it,” says Grand, who as a stylist and founder of Perfect Magazine, is one of the most influential figures in fashion. Unlike other fashion prizes, her idea was not to offer a headline grabbing lump sum (the LVMH Prize winner takes home €400,000, Vogue Fashion Fund offers €300,000). The cost of producing collections and showing them at fashion week is huge, says Grand, but throwing money at the problem isn’t always the best solution. “Being in London, you’re really aware of how much debt everyone’s accumulated, and how much parents or relatives have put on the line for designers. If you give someone a lump sum big prize, it could get eaten up by that debt,” she cautions. Instead, she suggested Dolce & Gabbana provide all the resources it takes to put on a fashion show including a runway space in their Milan head quarters. She would choose the designer and style the show, Dolce & Gabbana would take care of the budget and all the logistics. “It was to offer someone the space and the materials in the atelier, the press support, structure and all the things Dolce & Gabbana have,” she says of the innovative programme which has so far spotlighted London-based Feben and Karoline Vitto, as well as Tomo Koizumi, Matty Bovan and Miss Sohee.
“We’ve tried to have very different people from very different backgrounds, so it’s been super international,” says Grand. “I was very keen to make sure women were very well represented, and I think [my choices] have basically been on instinct.” Each season, she presents a short list to Stefano and Domenico and together, over tea, they decide who will receive the support.
For AW25 Grand chose the Chinese born, Central Saint Martins graduate Susan Fang. She was impressed not only with the designers colourful, whimsical aesthetic, but also her business acumen. “She’s just so organised and thinks commercially,” says Grand.
Each designer is granted access to the archive, and for Grand and the Dolce & Gabbana team, one of the most rewarding aspects of the programme is seeing the brand through the fresh eyes of a young designer. “Matty [Bovan] got really into the corsetry, swimwear and denim. Tomo was more into fabrics, where they had common ground. Feben was all about tailoring.”
Fang honed in on embellished archive pieces from the 1990s and early 2000s. “We had three racks of embellished pieces. Whole looks, arrived with the shoes, the accessories – everything immaculate. That was really fun,” says Grand.
A sweeping swing coat was an archive silhouette, but was hand-painted with scenes from the Chinese countryside by Fang’s artist mother. The archive also inspired the 3D sequin flowers which encrusted cute little mini skirts and dresses plus a series of holographic sequin looks. An archival floral lace design was reinterpreted in laser cut organza and the designer transposed her painterly prints onto a classic D&G lingerie dress. Fang crossed Chinese imperial jewellery with the ornate headbands worn in the Sicilian court.
“We wanted to work with very tight silhouettes, because our previous designs were always very voluminous. We were also quite inspired by D&G’s tailoring archive and really wanted to incorporate their techniques into this collection,” explained Fang of the perspective-expanding experience.
Working with Grand brought new insights on her own work. “Katie wants to create more colour and a little more attitude. And we wanted to showcase the Chinese love for family and Chinese craftsmanship alongside Italy’s incredible artisanship from D&G. So, we created a lot of pieces we’ve never tried before – working with tailoring, denim and sequins – because we really wanted to portray a joyful and heartfelt collection.”
For Fang, the Dolce & Gabbana platform is life changing. “It’s our first official show in Milan, and getting to work with such an experienced, professional team – it’s like our five- to ten-year dream came true ahead of schedule. And to collaborate with the best craftsmen – it’s an incredibly valuable experience for us.”
Photography courtesy of Susan Fang.
Susan Fang
