The romanticism of Yuhan Wang SS21 collection

Yuhan Wang SS21 collection is inspired by Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, a book of 18th century illustrated fairy tales where demons, ghosts, plants and female spirits are just a literary expedient to explore the many shades of female power.

The result is a series of creations depicting a pure and faithful love, a powerful romanticism made of ruched and draped stretch satin dresses, ruffles, lace, jacquard jackets, and structured tube skirts, thin tulle tops and vintage mood silhouettes mixing East and West. Wang dresses a woman who shows the strength of her fragility, who loves to wear pieces adorned with tulips, primroses, grapes and vine leaves which symbolize the autumn festival, meant as the joyful celebration of a better life, and that, with their palette of powder blue, pearly white, lilac and yellow, look like they came out of an impressionist painting.

Growing up in the seaport province of Weihai, Yuhan Wang studied graphic design at the School of Visual Arts in New York and then moved to London where she graduated in Fashion Design from Central Saint Martins. In the British capital she founded her eponymous brand and, thanks to her work exploring traditional Asian ideals of feminine beauty, identity themes and their connections with Western culture, she was awarded the L'Oréal Young Talent Award in 2016 and nominated for the LMVH 2020 award. 

Women are born with the power of softness. Romance is the spring that enriches and develops our lives; without it we would be in a desert.

This is also evident in the SS21 collection, presented with a lookbook shot by Amber Pinkerton with Anders Sølvsten Thomsen' styling, inspired by the feminine intimacy exhibited in portraits of actors from theatre fanzines like The Play Pictorial.