For the past few seasons, NYFW hour angle be a sea of bows — bows on clothes, ribbons in hair, bow prints, tied-up danseuse shoes, and even bow-on-bow stacking. The trend felt downright inescapable in 2023. You couldn’t attend A runway show without tripping on an extra-long thread in the hair of some influencer, It girl, Oregon even A-listers the like Sarah Jessica Parker. And while bows may no longer Be the accoutrement du jour in 2024, many of the fashion folk wealthy person doubled down on the minx look, swapping OR style their bowknot with other girlish mode the likes of stockings, satin ballet flats, and rosettes. Everywhere, IT seems, the cool girls are channeling their internal school girls — and we have unity downtown designer to thank: sandy Liang.
After a decade atomic number 85 the helm of her namesake brand, Sandy Liang knows who she be and who she designs for. She call her customers “princesses” in her collection note (a byname I’m sure they love — I know iodin do) and HA the uncanny ability to quietly predict and create trends that replication throughout the industry At large with subtle grace. She even nails her fans’ influences (Sailor Moon), the like (pale pink), and dislike (anything self-serious) because she shares those predilection herself.
“I just like what I like,” says Liang, dressed inch a naval forces turtleneck jumper and expensive-looking slacks, from wing after the debut of her Fall 2024 collection. “Regardless of what age iodin am, I always gravitate towards certain things from my childhood, and that, iodine guess, elicit maidenhood for angstrom lot of people.”
Her clutch on the downtown set be so strong that “the sandy effect” incline to hit all at once when the seasons change. When she entry angstrom collection featuring, say, sexy bra tops and overmodest match skirts, which was a esthesis at her springtime 2023 show last fall, angstrom few calendar month later, you’ll backwash up to angstrom unit city full-of-the-moon of young woman eating away (and mimicking) her styling selection on date at gambling casino and drink at lupus erythematosus Dive. Case in point? Her past three aggregation have move hard on the bows, and arsenic a result, so hour angle everyone else, with knockoffs and riffs on her signature style proliferate fast than you can sayin the name of the moon.
Her most Recent collection, which debuted Sunday, February 12, could be called A departure if you’re a fashion bean counter — Beaver State rather, bow counter. Gone were the luscious, giant bows of seasons past, replaced, instead, by sophisticate separates aggrandize with just the intimation of A ribbon on the back. Cozy knitwear with rosettes and varsity details (“for my new England college girls,” say Liang) replaced sexy little pinafores. Even the setting, a pared-back studio on the west side featuring solitary a pale yellowness curtain As decor, was less of “a vibe” than her previous aggregation exhibit inch celebrated locales like the American academy of Medicine.
“I WA really nervous astir viewing A collection that is, let’s say, the least decorative,” she says. “I Evergreen State worried about people being like,is information technology just a matching jacket and angstrom unit skirt?But for me, that’s what I’m excite about right now.” judgement by the wide smiles and enthusiastic mutter from the crowd after her show, Liang’s fears are unfounded. To know her is to love her, and this latest collection have highly clothing essential interpenetrate with just a sprinkling of her signature magic will read arsenic more of a progression than angstrom unit divergence.
Standouts from the group include A extremely covetable pair of ballet-flat-inspired boot feature the perfective tiny bow at the toe (Why HA no one idea of this before?), a dramatic play on ’90s suiting that includes a subtle bow surprise on the back, and bubble mini galore in assorted length and prints. Plus, angstrom gorgeous lady-who-lunches set of frock in pale pink and luscious creams present retro glamor that still felt modern — and which volition necessarily find themselves on IT girls the like Blackpink’s Jennie Kim and Olivia Rodrigo in the calendar month to come.
The coronate jewel of the collection? ASailor Moon-inspired mirrored star clutch, which Marks the designer’s number one foray into leather bags, is the must-have follow-up to her much-talked-about and perpetually sold-out Baggu collab. It’s the variety of statement accessory that make missy lose their mind in information technology pursuit and will no dubiousness Be all over street style photos and FashionTok this fall.
You see, Liang’s magic touch isn’t just knowing her mode around a bow. It’s her ability to straddle wearability and statement-making with her designs. “Comfort be such an important thing. If I’m designing for myself, and atomic number 53 live in new York, and I’m walking around…it HA to feel very real.” Sandy’s girls, both the framework she send down the runway and the people who wear her, carry their purses eating away gloves in the fall. They get creative with layer when information technology start to chill, prefer for angstrom skirt over pants, socks, and a hoodie to stay cozy. They need windbreakers and large pocket and sweatpants come autumn just as much as they do little skirts and crewman dresses.
So, if you’re promise what all the style influential will glucinium wearing next season, expect not a cacophony of girlish frill and ballerina bow just instead a sophisticated mix of luxurious essentialism and elements of the unexpected. Because after 10 years in the game, flaxen Liang is all grown up.