Review of Yuhan Wang Fall 2022 Fashion Show
When Femininity met Felinity
By Angela Baidoo
Calling all cat lovers, Yuhan Wang has positioned femininity and felinity front and centre for her Fall Collection, bringing a light-heartedness and sense of whimsy to the season. Playing into the global rise of pet parents Wang is encouraging her customers to wear their allegiance to their four-legged friends on knitted sets, faux fur coats, and silk shirt dresses.
The novelty of the all-over cat print will draw in the Gen-Z crowd, while her lace-printed leather and distressed skirt suits will keep her loyal fans engaged”
Cat motifs aside, and digging a little deeper, the designers show notes revealed a desire to change the perception of perfection, by updating her signature softness with crafted knitted textures, loose ties, and fringing. She also reimagined the delicacy of lace by over-printing it onto faux leather, marrying a classically feminine fabric against a harder surface, changing the perception of both materials. Fuzzy faux fur in white tended to cheapen floral jacquard skirt suits, but was a fun addition to footwear, making it easy for those of us still avoiding ‘proper’ shoes and demanding comfort, even if superficially.
Wang’s efforts to build out her sustainable credentials will endear her to those seeking to buy better. Opting for recycled cotton and locally sourced faux leather, the designer also looked to 3D printing corn plastic to develop her trims that were modelled after “Greek goddesses, ears, eyes, and hair pieces”, a nod to the collections theme ‘Venus in Furs’, and further making the case for the viability of these new digital tools that designers have at their disposal.
Floral printed midi dresses that came draped and folded around the body will be commercial hits when they hit the shop floor, giving the brand a relatability and everyday ease which some of the more worked into pieces missed the mark on, with a few too many ideas fighting for attention in certain looks.
Wang’s softness continues to offer the antidote her customers are seeking in these hard times”
The lean towards hyper femininity is a narrative that London designers are becoming skilfully adept at telling, celebrating womanhood for all its perceived perfections and flaws, whether sexed up in subversive latex or coddled in ruffles and ruching. Whatever the season, Wang is a designer that is taking on that story and running with it, making those twee ladylike ideas look new, through structured materials such as leather, that give her designs an added toughness that she has continuously pushed as one of her key underlying messages for her brand. Soft or hard, Wang’s woman is very much cat-like, as in the words of the designer “Sometimes we can be very cute but sometimes we can bite”.