Not unlike elsewhere in fashion, many of Shanghai’s buzziest labels are helmed by men. They often go viral online for their theatrics and are widely known for their carefully architected runway narratives. They’re robust businesses that have helped put Shanghai Fashion Week on the map, but it’s fair to say that they’re mostly built on projections of what women should wear and who they should be. Not Yirantian. Yirantian Guo’s eponymous label is a thoughtful examination of what women like her want to wear based on who they already are—this as reported by the many buyers, editors, and other fashion types who often wear her clothes.
Guo is one of Shanghai’s leading women designers, a nuance that is crucial to her endeavor because of how clearly it comes across in her clothes. She doesn’t make anything constricting, uncomfortable, or gratuitously revealing. Her designs don’t sacrifice the wearer for the sake of the look, which cannot be said about some of the most talked-about collections in Paris. Guo makes clothes that look like they feel good.
Last season she broke new ground with a more concise, sophisticated outing, which she built upon for spring. She said that the idea here was to explore a “dialogue between sharpness and softness,” name-checking a handful of dichotomies: “rationality and emotion,” “unassuming yet resonant.” Moving away from concept to execution, the key idea of the season was to contrast neutral suitings with powdery pastels. She faced her tailored separates cut in gray and black wools and satins with these lighter colors, a detail only noticeable by the way a tiny little bell hung and separated a split collar. The same juxtaposition carried over as silk slips poked out of pencil skirts and lined lace panels. Knits were airy and light and each model wore cropped satin gloves. This was a collection full of little delights.
The second half of the show got livelier and sexier and Guo showed she can cut a mean suit and drape a fabulously wispy dress. Most fun, however, were a couple of carwash silk skirts shown under roomy windbreakers that cinched and flared at the waist and some tops woven from strips of colorful silks that came undone at the side. Guo makes some pretty wearable, comfortable clothes—and they’re getting better by the season—but the trick she pulled here is showing that she knows how to have fun, too.
