I think London Fashion Week is insanely cool. I’ve seen some discourse lately about how NYFW and LFW don’t compare to Milan and Paris. London Fashion Week in particular has been the focal point of critique this season, something about it being too young to know what it wants. But my eyes were glued on London in a way they’d never been before. Maybe out of excitement for Simone Rocha’s show, or because after visiting last Spring, and seeing how opposite and the same it is to New York, I was just a bit more curious to see what would unfold. One rather bubbly designer stood out to me, Susan Fang. I found Fang through this Hypebae post and my interest was piqued 1. because the shoes are killer and 2. because they noted she had made them with upcycled material, and we all know I’m a Sustainable Baddie.
(Side note: I think this will mark the beginning of a beautiful series for Hardly Revolutionary, where I talk about designers I’m studying and just share brands I believe deserve more recognition. Simply titled, “Who is…?” cause that’s what I wanna find out. I called this blog Hardly Revolutionary because I don’t think anything that I think is revolutionary at all, I never want to come off as an expert, but rather an admirer and a learner. So that’s what we’re doing here, I’m taking you along with me on my learning journey!)
I felt like I was looking into a frog egg; a clear, slimy, slightly ethereal orb, with life developing inside it. Her designs stood out to me for being so delicate yet so rough, so textured. Based out of London and Shangai, Susan Fang is a Canadian-Chinese designer and graduate of Central Saint Martins in London (similar to other icons like Simone Rocha, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and more.) She founded her eponymous brand after graduating in 2017 and has regularly shown at London Fashion Week since 2022.
What I like about these designs is they remind me so much of nature’s beauty and Fang takes that and turns it surreal. Nature and beauty, she’s stated, are two pillars behind her design ethos. Sustainability is central to her work, which it should be if it’s meant to reflect the beauty of nature. She has a conceptual approach to fashion and a distinctive method of using materials; the signature element of her designs is her exploration of textures and materials that imitate nature. She also often incorporates unconventional materials like silicone, resin, and foam into her garments to create visually striking and sculptural pieces. Her work blurs the lines between fashion and art, with each collection showcasing her experimental techniques and artistic vision.
I think beyond viewing the clothing itself, my favorite thing to know about a collection is the theme or idea that inspired the designer. Whether or not I care about or am interested in that theme, I love to hear how a designer describes their own process, I love to look for the details in their words (maybe because I’m a writer, not a designer and I feel the need to have words for all that I observe). For Susan Fang this fall, it was bubble snails, who “float around in the sea, taking their home everywhere they go.” She told Vogue, “There’s a lot of negativity going on in the world right now, and it makes me sad to think about people losing their homes,” perhaps a subtle hint that the collection is a hopeful reaction to the catastrophe we’re witnessing in Gaza (but I don’t want to give credit where it isn’t due or where she could have been more explicit if that’s what she was referring to.) The collection, through its rough edges and soft-toned fabrics, did give an air of protection and the fractal glisten that one might notice when a ray of light shines through water, and you’re brave enough to open your eyes underwater for just a moment.
Throughout her collections, you notice the establishment of traditionally feminine codes. Codes associated with Springtime, like blooming and rebirth. Fang traces her affinity for feminine elements to her mom, grandma, and great-grandma, who embodied femininity while navigating a man’s world. For Fang, these women exemplify the fusion of femininity and strength, inspiring her designs that blend softness with resilience (apparent in her bubble snail collection). She told the Zoe Report in 2022, that she sees embracing all facets of oneself as a path to inner peace and believes happiness lies in embracing the dreamy and surreal aspects of life. Same.
Last September, her inspiration was “the role of artificial intelligence in the context of the natural world.” I love nothing more than art that merges opposites, like the digital, the physical, and the spiritual. I love inherently emotional fashion and that centers beauty, She told Hypebae last September, while interviewing about her SS24 collection, about a thought she had during her second year at university, a thought about beauty. “It struck me that everything we perceive as beautiful is, in essence, a reflection of nature, our roots and our connection to it.” I deeply agree with this statement. Her work is spiritual and reminds me a bit of Hilma af Klint. They share common ground in their exploration of geometric abstraction and their use of color and form. Both evoke a sense of otherworldliness and transcendence, both attempt and succeed at generating certain energies with their creations.
This Hypebae interview from last September affirms the above for me and says so much about how her outlook on life inspires her designs. (I highly recommend you read it: Susan Fang SS24 Asks, What if AI Had Dreams Too?) TLDR: She tells Hypebae about this dreamy exchange she had with a street musician in Mexico. She and her team needed a model and couldn’t find one until they came across a street musician with an “intriguing kind of beauty.” She opened up to Fang about the passing of her husband and how the decision to shoot with her that day was an intuitive choice that brought her liveliness and joy she never thought she’d experience again. Embracing life, sharing love, and the reciprocity of positive energy is a transformative power and the essence of true beauty. Someone who can experience life in that way, open up the possibility to strangers to offer some kind of beauty to their life and work for just a moment, is someone who has a deep understanding of emotion, beauty, and presence. I can’t wait to see where she goes from here.
Sources
https://hypebae.com/2023/9/susan-fang-spring-summer-2024-london-fashion-week-interview
https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/designer/susan-fang
https://www.instagram.com/susanfangofficial/
https://www.susanfangofficial.com/pages/about
https://www.thezoereport.com/fashion/susan-fang-designer-profile