SAMUEL GUÌ YANG unveils its Spring/Summer 2022 collection "Body Future Style" to capture the image of diverse women

Text/Forbes China

Spring/Summer 2022 is the eleventh season of SAMUEL GUÌ YANG and the eleventh collection to be officially released since the brand was founded in 2015. To commemorate and celebrate this special occasion, after two years of absence from the runway, SAMUEL GUÌ YANG has returned to the fashion show format to present the launch of the new season collection.

The venue is located at the Shanghai Hengfu Art Center. Built in 1929, this historic building was once the site of the "China Meisheng Association". Today, as a public space that inherits the Culture of The Shanghai School, SAMUEL GUÌ YANG, which combines Western modern and Chinese aesthetics, has produced a dialogue. With the collaboration of the creative team, the SAMUEL GUÌ YANG Spring/Summer 2022 runway, placed in the courtyard of the building, revealed a new look that was different from the past. Between the seats, on the sides, there are green flowers dotted in it. Models with non-uniform makeup describe nature, but also go in and out of daily living scenes.

Samuel GUÌ YANG Spring/Summer 2022 is themed "The Future Body Body Future", which explores the delicate and complex "inside-out" relationship between people and bodies and body clothing. Through the extension and upgrading of styles, fabrics and cuts, it captures and outlines the diverse and real female images that exist in the background of the East and the West. "Pink" is the brand's main theme for Spring/Summer 2022 and is one of the defining elements that will influence this season's creative inspiration. From the photographic works of artist Feng Li, we can glimpse the contradictions and conflicts of pink artificial objects. It is a color with its own "industrial texture", and this spontaneous association stems from the imprint of the cultural attributes that the material is endowed with. In the same way, "green" is often fixed in the field of "nature" because of its universal impression. SAMUEL GUÌ YANG intends to break the shackles of color attribution. For example, place a non-traditionally recognized pink color in a natural background, or re-enact the artificially predisposed yellow-green color on a Chinese Lee Jacket.

The natural "clay" also gives a lot of inspiration to the Spring/Summer 2022 collection. Influenced by stylist Lyson Marchessault, who continues to work with SAMUEL GUÌ YANG, the development of the new season ready-to-wear introduces a systematic aesthetic of "smelting pottery". The pottery firing process is full of uncertainty and changes, and after another kind of forging, its changes are interpreted into the unique color texture of the custom-dyed fabric, which is exquisite. The "water" element, as an image, appears in some styles of the Spring/Summer collection. For example, the back cutout dress inspired by the sports swimsuit system is printed with a floral body, immersed in water," a totem that alludes to the image of "The Lady of Shallot" in British legends and poems.

On the basis of retaining the brand's classic styles, SAMUEL GUÌ YANG Spring/Summer 2022 collection continues to develop and explore contemporary fashion that integrates the characteristics of Chinese and Western clothing from the perspective of lifestyle and dress scenes. For example, the new pit jacket, which captures Lee Jacket's signature rubber Chinese disc buckle elements, is based on pure organic cotton and inherits the suit cut and workwear details – compared to the Lee Jacket, which emphasizes the waist. The latter has a more comfortable silhouette and a more relaxed silhouette that's more suitable for everyday wear. Another new style, Cheung Dress, is made of silk jacquard fabric, the upper body is borrowed from the traditional Chinese flat cut, and the tie waist and skirt part are Western vertical cut. Single row of lateral buttons offers the possibility to change styles freely.

The slip dress and coat in the collection are inspired by the 1988 Polish film Krótki Film o Miłości. The film uses a romantic narrative to depict the admiration of a young boy with an innocent heart for a seemingly sophisticated adult woman - praising pure love while also exploring the "boundary" and "distance" between people.

Accessories in the SS22 collection involve jewellery, pendants and bags. Jewellery includes a chalcedony body chain and chalcedony necklace in collaboration with the SOFT MOUNTAINS brand, as well as an S-shaped Yi handicraft hook on the pendant; knotted rope pendants and necklaces are made by suppliers who master traditional Japanese knot rope craftsmanship; and the new multi-colored Baofu Bag combines femininity and chivalry.

Season 11 – both the end and the beginning. From "Past Lives" in autumn/winter 2021 to "The Future Body" in spring/summer 2022, SAMUEL GUÌ YANG constantly perceives itself and the world around it with a dynamic state of mind. In the face of various changes and uncertainties in the external environment, between "closing" and "releasing" in retrospective of the past and touching the future, SAMUEL GUÌ YANG responds to this change with a fluid design language. As Marguerite Duras puts it: "It has no end, it is formed all the time." ”