One of Sandy Liang’s most valuable traits as a designer is her ability to create not just clothes, but also a fantasy. She’s a tastemaker of sorts, and was able to create a world with just 37 looks. This season, she took us into the life of dollhouses and dolls, having been inspired by the 5th Avenue heiress Huguette Clark, who had an obsession with the toys. Liang remarked that she, like the late Clark, has a sense of childlike wonder. “You know, Clark was kind of stuck in childhood, and even as she got older, she was obsessed with dollhouses and all of her trinkets. She had a mansion on 5th Avenue, but it was just filled with rooms of all these toy houses she got commissioned in France and Japan.”
Throughout the show you could find dainty and delicate doll-like clothes from prairie dresses to mini skirts that featured maximized Sandy Liang care labels and buttons. Having been inspired by the lace drapery that’s often featured in dollhouses, the technique was used throughout, with one of the lace slip skirts featuring a blue ribbon to mimic a curtain being tied back.
Growing up partly in Chinatown, Liang also took influence from some of the Chinatown grandmothers who walk the streets. She recalled back to her senior thesis project, where they were the focal point of her collection, but these days she is watching a new generation of Chinatown grandmas who walk the streets. They aren’t just walking around in their protective sun gear, but are also incorporating more floral prints and wearing sandals. Liang’s version of a Chinatown grandma included those nostalgic florals and covering their arms (for sun protection), but also mixing and matching prints and layering swimsuit bras over the clothes.
Beyond the Chinatown grandmothers, she also took influence from Canal Street. If you look closely at her prints and tees, you’ll find that the Sandy Liang logo is slightly off. While Liang mentioned it was influenced by the clothes her parents would bring back from China in her childhood, it could have also been a playful nod of acknowledgement at the imitation that often follows when the designer releases a new collection.