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Sandy Liang is going through changes. From her corner of Chinatown in the Lower East Side, the 33-year-old Queens native spawned a fashion empire through her distinctive musings on girlhood and femininity. Last year saw her signature coquettish motifs—bows, ribbons and ballerina slippers—explode into a supernova success story, with the styles ricocheting across all corners of the industry.
Whether it be Liang’s signature school-girl style pleated dresses, satin rosettes, Mary Jane ballet flats (a style that not only marked her first foray into footwear, but sold out instantaneous), her collaboration with Baggu (which tripled its price in resale value), or highly-coveted Solomon sneakers, the designer was unavoidable—and for good reason.
How to follow up your sartorial flourish, then? Not with a bang, but with a whisper. That is what was delivered in Liang’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection. In show notes, the newlywed articulated that this quiet, albeit refined reverence, was her ode to maturity, not austerity. In perhaps fortuitous timing to align with the new Year of the Dragon, the Chinese-American designer presented a precession that riffed on the idea of “growing up a little without sacrificing what you love”.
This template expanded on Liang-isms of Peter Pan collars, Princess puff sleeves, satin sashes and prim buttons up by offering hushed renditions of these tropes for the girl who has to moonlight in conservative spheres.
The panoply began with Liang’s expression of athleisure. Or at least the styles we lycra-averse might don for trips to the bodega or after-school runs. Quaint zip-up hoodies and matching track pants were enhanced by silent roses crafted in the same cotton fabric. Canny layering followed suit, with pleated skirts styled over trousers or deep V-neck sweaters concealing shirting and cashmere base layers.
Towards the middle of the collection, Liang began to tug on the heart sleeves of the Upper East Side set with contoured blouses and satin skirt suit sets à la the menagerie of socialites flocking on our screen in the new season of Feud. Sensuality was explored in a different form this way with slinky jersey dresses that fell off the shoulder and gathered around the waist.
Newness was all afoot, in structured woollen silhouettes, knee-high leather boots and a new category of leather accessories. The 40-piece range ended in a suite of dresses inspired by Japan’s Princess Kako of Akishino.
This isn’t Liang’s swan song to whimsical, saccharine explorations of youth. Rather, a manifestation of how this outlook evolves as her company grows alongside its clientele. Liang: not yet a girl, not yet a woman.
