February 10, 2025 |
Over the last two years, Sandy Liang has experienced a number of major milestones. She got married in 2023 and welcomed her first child last year. But while life has undergone significant changes, her runway shows remain consistent – a celebration of girlhood that has become a hallmark of the brand. The Sandy girl is distinctive. She loves a big bow, chunky Mary Janes, and a little skirt. She’s cool and unabashedly feminine with a deep nostalgia for the late ’90s and early aughts. But much like the designer herself, there’s room to grow and evolve. And for autumn 2025, Liang’s collection did exactly that.
As always Liang mined her younger years as a starting point. From favourite movies like The Snowman and The Parent Trap to trips to ToysRUs to personal objects like a pink planner with a lock, everything calls back to a moment in time. The influences were evident from the opening look: a pink shift worn over a long johns was equal parts child playing dress up and a cool downtown girl styling. A tee tucked under a cardigan riffed on the toy store’s logo while the brand’s signature fleeces were teamed with colourful miniskirts. It was all very playful and personal – not everything is conventionally pretty or sensical but for the Sandy customer, experimentation with fashion is an integral part of her identity.
Speaking of playful, Liang decided to throw in a bit of surrealism into the mix. Sweaters featured miniature versions at the shoulder or hip. A mini was covered in little silk renditions of the silhouette while a shift dress also received the same treatment. Other pieces used trompe l’oeil, whether it was a skirt that featured a printed version of Liang’s gingham dress from a few years back or another that had a pink planner and earphones.
Where she excels, however, are in the IYKYK moments central to Liang’s Chinese American heritage. The penultimate look consisted of a coated skirt emblazoned with a calendar that recalled pencil cases and agendas one could find in a Sanrio store. Another skirt, upon closer inspection, were the instructions on folding paper stars, a rite of passage for many teens. Even the soundtrack felt reflective of the mishmash of cultural references that come with being Asian American from the opening Faye Wong song to Sky Ferreira to the techno remix of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence. And perhaps that’s how you know you’re grown up – embracing all of your multitudes without ever losing your sense of wonder and fun.
Photography courtesy of Sandy Liang.
