In the wake of Barbiecore and Brat Girl Summer, the meteoric ubiquity of feminine styles and girly aesthetics have been embraced in earnest. And HBX’s latest addition to its collection, New York-based fashion label, Sandy Liang is no different. Renowned for its unabashedly feminine aesthetic, the brand blends nostalgia and whimsical design elements with visual representations of the female experience, to narrate a nuanced and desired dream-like world for the modern-day woman.
The exponential rise in popularity of the coquette aesthetic has significantly influenced the design of renowned brands like Simone Rocha, Miu Miu, House of Sunny, and even streetwear brands such as Adidas and ASICS. Liang's iteration of this emerging wave of femininity distinguishes itself by blending her New York flair with the captivating charm of Chinatown.
Explore more coquette-inspired pieces below on HBX:
In fact, Liang’s technical amalgamation of femininity and city utility can only be explained by her origin story. A history at Parsons School of Design, backed by experience working in her family-run restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown, naturally resulted in tasteful homages and silhouettes alluding to the women who ran this district - a design language that crafts a special kind of practicality and girlish appeal for Asian-American women in particular.
Perhaps the brand’s most distinctive iconography is its bows and ballet flats - images that easily express the essence of Sandy Liang. The brand explores womenswear through the lens of the contemporary; experimental pieces are crafted with personality in mind, utilizing design elements to immortalize an image of Liang’s past. Reference points of Totally Spies, Hello Kitty, and Chinatown, infuse themselves in between the pink stars reminiscent of childhood planners, the pleated skirts of adolescent days, and the babydoll elements of a romantic mindset that once purveyed girlhood.
Nods to and samples of animes, childhood characters, and girlish silhouettes, reminiscent of early youth and dress-up parties, are all updated to showcase fanciful detailing and modern tailoring that probes the idea of the modern-day woman’s uniform and her needs, an exploration for which Liang has become best known.
Where hyper-mini skirts have been given secret pockets, star-shaped purses have been infused with Y2K-esque metallic palettes and hiking sneakers have been adorned with ribbons and mesh details, it is in this way that Liang’s brand has suffused so seamlessly into the fashion realm. Sandy Liang can simultaneously be categorized as coquette, preppy, and fanciful, so much as it can be categorized under gorpcore.
Collaborations with Vans, HeyTea and most notably, Salomon, one of which unveiled a new Salomon RX Moc 3.0 and XT-6 Expanse, have only further served to demonstrate the brand’s strong design language. Overt and heavy brand logos or branding are obsolete in a Sandy Liang collaboration, opting to incorporate elements synonymous with the brand, girlhood, and being a “Sandy Liang Girl” instead.
THE SANDY LIANG GIRL
The “Sandy Liang Girl” is defiant in its self-embrace of womanhood; to be girly, to be unapologetically feminine, and to revel in this with unbridled shame and childlike experimentation, is to be a "Sandy Liang Girl."
“She’s a secret agent. She’s on the go. She’s the main character in her own movie.”
— Sandy Liang tells Hypebae about being a “Sandy Liang” girl.
For the past decade, the Hypebeast 100 Award-Winner has been continuously contemplating the wardrobe of the modern-day princess, reminiscing about childhood nostalgia, and paying homage to her heritage with increasing skill and freshness in every release.
Liang’s most recent release on HBX encapsulates and discusses the intersection of womanhood, girlhood, and the corporate world; from the soft pink tones to the tweed sets and office-siren-esque pieces, the collection is simultaneously sweetly feminine and resolute in its womanhood.
But beneath Sandy Liang's bows and rosettes lies a powerful statement on womanhood and a rebellion against the suppression of femininity. To embrace a girly pink aesthetic is a feminist statement in the 21st Century. But to exude femininity with an unapologetic disregard for age and what that “should” look like, à la Sandy Liang, is a doubly feminist act.
In other words, to be a "Sandy Liang Girl" means to reclaim womanhood, girlhood, and the sacrifices made in the pursuit of growing up.
Sandy Liang is available now at HBX. For more Sandy Liang, check out Hypebeast Magazine’s latest release, or explore more on HBX.com now.
A shortened version of this piece has been edited to fit HBX's Brand Spotlight. Explore more on HBX on Instagram now.
