The Tamesis
“I created the woman I wanted to be,” Guo Yirantian said after her latest Shanghai Fashion Week show at the Labelhood Center. It may sound simple, but as Guo elaborated during her show and subsequent chat, the woman she wants to be encompasses too many facets to be defined by one look: Instead, the complexity of her character requires corresponding depth and variety in her wardrobe.
Guo divides the character types in this collection into three categories. The first is a businesswoman. She wears a high-shawl-collar double-breasted custom leather or wool jacket with a matching knee-length skirt, a knitted cardigan jacket paired with a fitted knitted low-rise skirt (in her experience so far, Guo said, low-rise reflects “what women want to be”), and a boat-neck knit vest paired with a collared shirt and pleated shorts.
Next on Kuo’s list is “Modern Housewife.” As she points out: “A lot of women are tough on the outside but soft on the inside. They just need to be strong.” A funnel-neck cape coat paired with leather pants, or a coat with a large faux fur collar or even a bigger pull-up style all seemed to suggest the protective home look that Guo suggested she was referring to. The angular silhouettes of her embroidered patches and large shoulders on many looks were consciously contrasted with the undulating, layered silhouettes of lace-trimmed skirts and slips to distill the competing aspects of her multifaceted woman, Guo said.
Ranking third among these categories is what Guo calls “freelancers.” “That’s because there are a lot of freelancers in China, aged between 30 and 40, who are independent women who love their lifestyle,” she adds. This rather precise definition belies the impression that her entire collection is ultimately designed for independent women: even the fact that her existing client base chooses still-emerging local designers over the superior marketing appeal of foreign luxury brands is a pretty strong indicator of self-confidence. The Yirantian woman described by Mr. Guo seems to be well-conceived, capable, and very real.
