“You know me, I'm super obsessed with nostalgia,” Sandy Liang said during a preview of her resort collection. She leads with what resonates so strongly with her clients: her creative impulse to draw from the past to make something modern. This season she took the flight and set her sights on “what she would design for Japanese airline flight attendants,” she said. But the vibe came with the polish she explored last season, thinking about what it means to dress up for work. “You're 30 years old and you're going to work, what's that like?” she said, going through the pieces she's obsessed with and naming each one “wearable.”
A pink striped button down with a matching tie and pink pleated skirt was preppy but ironically sweet. In fact, ties were everywhere: on crisp white shirts, under navy cardigans or paired with short but appropriate skirts. The period was deliberately vague, but there were some hints of a Mod vibe, certainly the sort of thing you might have worn when a flight meant dressing up. Case in point: An aqua blue long-sleeved blouse with a random circle cut out across the chest was worn with an apron skirt over pale blue pants. Could it be for the guest or the hostess? Either way, it was decidedly the young and cool, but not too young, vibe that Liang's work sits on. Do you prefer more relaxed? She had hoodies, a style that debuted last season and that, she said, was an instant hit.
Accessories saw a new take on ballet flats made cool again, her large satin bow bags and a variety of belts, which she layered over her varsity knitwear.
