Given that Feng Chen Wang’s work often revolves around taking existing pieces and splicing them into striking hybrids, it’s little wonder that mythical chimaeras would excite her imagination.
The starting point for her fall season was the “Classic of Mountains and Seas,” an ancient collection of epic tales filled with such creatures.
First, Wang sought to create her own, working with ceramicists in Jingdezhen to create them as porcelain sculptures. They then spawned into sculptural purses, bag ornaments and brooches featuring their friendly faces reminiscent of a lion dog.
But while the aesthetics of the classic Chinese text-informed prints, a color palette of yellow, porcelain blue and fired browns — and even 3D-printed shells dressing Ugg boots — the fall lineup stayed resolutely contemporary.
Keeping to her balance of sports utility styles and tailoring yielded handsome results, particularly on outerwear.
Standouts included a cocoon-like shearling bomber jacket; a workwear jacket in a washed earth tones, which came with matching trousers, and multipocketed variations on the MA-1 flight blouson in technical satin.
A sprinkling of experimental pieces like, say, blazer halves in constrasting colors spliced together and turned into a back-baring top, rounded out her narration.
In a season where designers are keeping their offerings rooted in the believable, a touch of light whimsy gave Wang’s fall collection real appeal.
