Sandy Liang FW24 Turns Bow-Tied Ballerinas Into Royals
Celebrating her brand’s 10th anniversary, the Chinese-American designer celebrates the idea of “growing up a little without sacrificing what you love.”
On Sandy Liang’s runway, fashion heals the inner child. Her designs fondly recall memories of youth: fanciful ballet classes, whimsical dress-up days on the school playground, drawing stars in a classroom notebook, the excitement of flipping through those vintage fashion catalogs that arrived in the mail. This season marked a monumental milestone for the bow-tied brand: one decade in business. To fête, the Chinese-American designer’s Fall/Winter 2024 show celebrated what it always has: “growing up a little without sacrificing what you love,” per Liang.
The modern Sandy Liang clientele is the “schoolgirl who grows up to be a princess,” she explained in her collection notes. She likens her brand’s wardrobe to a treasure chest — particularly, one filled with hyper-feminine gold. In next-season’s trunk, Recital Bags gleam in leather; multi-dimensional rosettes extend from muted tracksuits, and signature bows replaced buttons on collarless shirts. Ribbons, meanwhile, dangled from the chests of closed jackets. Pale pink, per usual, grounded the color palette, while butter yellow offered a satisfying complement on Mary Janes. “She is special,” Liang wrote of the character she’s creating through these clothes. “She is just one girl in a group of girls.”
The ballerina references returned — most notably, in the form of a high boot that was finished with a bow on the toe. Pink stars, referencing “childhood planners,” decorated outerwear in constellations, and several chrome clutches took on the intergalactic shape too. Among all the nods to adolescence, Liang was also aware of her consumer’s maturity — hence her emphasis on quieter office wares made from textiles like soft corduroy, mohair, donegal tweed and satins. “In a uniform, there is fantasy and in nostalgia, there is presence,” Liang’s notes explained.
Girlhood remained in the fore, though Liang did enter the genderless and menswear categories with a stronger force, showcasing turtlenecks, straight trousers and nylon coats on male models. Ten years in, Liang’s label has become one of the most-coveted in New York (her recent Baggu collab did, in fact, sell out in just seven minutes). It’s clear that she’s ready to continue building on what the people already love.
See Sandy Liang’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection in the gallery above, and stay tuned to Hypebeast for more New York Fashion Week coverage.
