When Girl Meets WomanMeet the Next New brand:SHUSHU/TONG
“We want to define femininity with a modern cool attitude,” say Liushu Lei and Yutong Jiang, the university friends turned business partners who launched their debut collection in 2015 after graduating from the London College of Fashion and rising up through Lane Crawford’s Creative Call Out programme.
In the first three years of the brand’s launch, they have been nominated for the prestigious Woolmark Prize, and are stocked by some of the most in-demand retailers across the globe.
Dedicated to designing a unique yet accessible collection, the designers push the boundaries between girl and woman, expressing a youthful, fun-loving attitude that redefines femininity with a modern and relaxed attitude.
“We believe that the SHUSHU/TONG woman is modern, dares to express herself by wearing unabashedly feminine details, has a cool attitude, and most importantly, always keeps a young girl's heart,” says Jiang.
“We want to define femininity with a modern cool attitude”
For AW18 the designers continued to evolve this ladylike expression, exaggerating the scale like a giant flower to add a darker twist to each piece. Designing for “those quirky girls who aspire to write”, the duo are interested in exploring their wit, mighty minds alongside their mighty pen. Inspired by figures such as Peggy Olson in the TV series Mad Man, Margot Tenenbaum in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, the collection plays on quirks of old school uniform, referencing Chinese school uniforms from the 40s and the British public school aesthetic, as highlighted through neat silhouettes and a restricted colour palette.
