Spring/summer 2027 belongs to the girlies – just not as society has known them in the past. Saccharine cutesiness learns to coexist with unease and chaos, as seen at the satin-sheeted, rose-tinted Yuhan Wang show at 180 Strand. Set against a backdrop of a Suspiria-coded hyper-saturated pink bedroom, the Yuhan Wang women swapped obedient put-togetherness for lace-trimmed uncertainty and dreamlike disarray.
“For the new collection we use ideas of dreams to explore women’s inner world. We kind of use that room to present her personal own space. The idea is a room of one’s own, where she can actually exist outside of how she is expected to be or be seen. I feel like in the space a different side of herself comes out, her emotions, desires, and memories are seen together and present her own world,” Yuhan Wang explained her inspiration to Noctis after the show.
A seemingly safe space, the bedroom it also one where our imagination can play tricks on us, where everything – from familiar objects to our own psyche – can shift to take on a more sinister edge. In “Sweet Nightmare” wearable polo jersey was reimagined through a lingerie lens, pitted against dramatic silhouettes, from exaggerated, ballooning babydolls to a surrealist skirt and dress made to resemble an open chest of drawers.
“The collection is quite feminine, also quite playful with all the details. It’s everyday wear, lingerie, sportswear mixed together alongside small objects and moments from her room. I feel like this dream is actually a way of entering her mind.”
Silky slips, twee plaid sets, and kitty cat tees were accessorised with objects – hairbrushes, toothbrushes, and even floral teacups and saucers tangled up in the clothing – as a physical manifestation of those fleeting intimate moments of care. Other times the motifs of beauty rituals creeped in as the inspiration for bags or charms, while jewellery and undergarments appeared caught between the states of dress and undress.
The twisted incompleteness of the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach was perfected under the expert eye of stylist Lara McGrath (otherwise known as @thegoatdancer), who originally went viral a couple of years ago after sharing avant-garde looks she created by tying, draping, and layering garments in high street changing rooms. Combined with Wang’s romantic colour palette, it allowed for the collection to avoid becoming overly sentimental, instead encouraging the audience to question convention.
Yuhan Wang’s vision of orchestrated chaos was further emphasised through hair and make-up, with hairstyles showing a full range of female existence – from bedhead through rollers to glam waves. Apple-cheeked and technicolour red-lipped girl-next-door types mingled with messy-haired models whose lace became second skin, stencilled in ghostly white across their faces.
Yuhan Wang quoted films from across the 60s, 70s, and 80s as inspiration for this exploration of identity, including some iconic psychological horror titles: “We’ve got some movie references, like Rosemary’s Baby, and also Eyes without a Face. It’s not about the horror story behind it. It’s more about the intimate world, about the woman inside.”
A new vision of femininity is calling. Who will answer?
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Words: Florentyna Syperek
Photography: Adam Pietraszewski