As someone who has always appreciated the construction hundreds of designers have presented on runways, storefronts, and campaigns, something always felt off to me. Forced, in a way. Forced to understand the deeper meaning behind the designs, forced to understand the complexity of the story trying to be told, forced to like something when really it was just so confusing to me. I have been yearning to be consumed by a feeling of overwhelming love for a designer. I have flipped through my many magazines, I have scrolled on Vogue Runway, and I still feel as though none have fully completed me. However, I come to bring you good news, news very much needed now more than ever in the fashion world. As I discover more and more designers, taking in all that they have to offer, we have found our runway princess and her name is Sandy Liang.

I first discovered Liang when I was watching new collections on Youtube for the Spring 2023 season and was scrolling through, lost in the space of innovation. I became more and more intrigued with the power designers illuminate within pages they want to tell to their audience. Whether that was among the corners of the Swiss Alps or the open museum of Rome, I was becoming a character in the fictional world of fashion. This time, I was becoming a schoolgirl in the auditorium of Pace University, embodying my inner Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and effortless 90s chicness while appreciating the pieces that came from Liang’s childhood for her Spring 2023 line. 

Sandy Liang Spring 2023 Ready-To-Wear

Sandy Liang works and lives in the Lower East Side, where New York serves as her biggest inspiration for her collections. From a young age, Liang’s curiosity was driven by the idea of how clothes were vain and served no significant purpose, causing her to become even more eager to be surrounded by its presence. However, she was steered to take the safe approach where she enrolled in a specialized math and science high school where she then ended up at the  Rhode Island School of Design, studying architecture. As someone who wanted to leave the city, it didn’t take long for Liang to realize how much significance the cityline had on her. In an interview with Salomon TV, she discusses her unique upbringing as a young girl in the city wanting to be a name in the fashion world, while also being vulnerable about the steps it took for her to be where she is today. “I wasn’t used to being away from my family. I felt so alone. I want to be on the seven train with tons of people. I want to feel safe.” After realizing where her heart belonged, Liang came back to the city and began her future.

As a young designer, all that one knows is the constant hustle of sketching, researching, erasing, and more erasing, all while climbing a mountain of refining and making your way. But what is so commendable among the minds of young innovators like Liang, is that there is no risk when one pulls from a space of comfort. The force of familiarity stands out when one makes the past present. “Chinatown grandmas were one of my core inspirations, just the fact that they are so effortlessly cool and they all look great and they don’t care what they are wearing,” she said. Liang grew into her own footing as a young fashion designer who held great pride in her work ethic, contradicting the standards placed on her ever since she was a young girl. So many young minds are being filled with societal pressures revolving around the fact we must have everything in order to be successful and happy, when in reality this is what is driving dull ideas to be born. The art of risk taking is an amicable spirit that so many designers, artists and photographers have endured in order to create the pieces we love so much. Nonetheless, Liang is more than a risk taker. She is simply herself – one of the hardest things a person can be. 

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“My childhood is a constant source of inspiration to me. I feel like you access that core childhood part of you and then it unlocks something within you that’s like being covered by years of being an adult.” As of Liang’s new collection, Spring 2025 Ready-To-Wear, the trend of a uniform was a strong vocal point, more specifically, spy wear. Liang is most known for her influence on the coquette and nostalgic hemispheres of fashion go-ers, collaborating with brands such as Baggu and Salomon, a shoe brand where her heritage is celebrated through sneaker wear and ribbon. However, this is a new path for Sandy Liang girls everywhere, a path where we are moving on from schoolgirl pleated skirts to uniform wear. Including short-sleeve blazers, printed capri sets, and cropped puff sleeve blouses colored in the Barbie pink, candy apple, and baby blue palette. The versatility and affordability between skirts, mini dresses, and even kitten heels that Liang produces is like no other, influencers and musicians such as the Carlson sisters, Ruby Lyn, and Clairo all adore her work, crowning her as our modern day runway princess.

Sandy Liang is a refreshing new wave of creativity that will impact the hearts, minds, and souls that drives our generation to create meaningful art for so many to appreciate. As a closing statement for her most recent collection, Liang says, “Each piece is password protected; only you can unlock it”.

Sandy Liang Spring 2025 Ready-To-Wear

Since 1983, J.Crew has been a beloved and well-known fashion company that in recent years, has grown to become a brand built on responsibility and consciousness. The brand announced a rebrand in 2021, emphasizing corporate social responsibility and promoting sustainability. This movement, called “Re-imagined by J.Crew,” guides customers on new ways to add to their wardrobe while planting a mindful seed for our planet. 100% of their main fibers are sustainably procured, including 100% of their cotton. If more brands reimagined their fabrics and clothing production while also eliminating the use of chemical fertilizers pesticides, there would be a significant difference not only for the planet, but also for the betterment of the fashion industry itself. 

In today’s society, our generation is being presented with articles of clothing that are not made to last forever. In the moment, it’s trendy, affordable, and “stylish” but, at what cost? In an article written by Aaron Baar, Derek Yarbrough, chief marketing officer for J.Crew, emphasized the importance of lasting pieces that are made to stay. “Think about some of your favorite wearable heirlooms: that softer-than-soft cashmere sweater, those perfectly broken-in jeans – we want our customers to pass those on when they’re done wearing them, but unfortunately, 73 percent of pre-owned clothes are sent to landfills, instead of being reused or recycled.” In a generation where online shopping and fast-fashion floods the carts of millions, the contribution of greenhouse gas emissions, microplastics, and textile waste are at an all time high causing our environment to crumble.  As these waste mountains grow taller, our soil and water supply grow dryer. “Keeping clothes out of landfills by shopping preloved J.Crew pieces allows our customers to not only shop sustainably and help the environment reduce carbon waste… but empowers them to clean out their closet and say goodbye to clothes that have fallen out of their rotation,” Yarbrough said. Many retail stores can follow J. Crew’s new movement and use their brand as a platform for influence and change.

In a statement made by “The Geneva Environment Network”, “In the last 20 years, global fibre production has almost doubled from 58 million tonnes in 2000 to 116 million tonnes in 2022, and is expected to continue to grow to 147 million tonnes in 2030.” For 40 years, J.Crews brand has been built off of consistency and ownership, communicating with their customers that the quality of clothing is made from the heart of those who want to bring awareness and care for our environment. As the fashion industry continues to be the second-largest consumer of water, while being responsible for 8% of the global carbon emissions in our environment, J.Crew’s mission can be the beginning of change. The beginning of living. In an extensive report done by J.Crews brand and creative team, they articulate the evident research and findings that provide a deeper insight on the true message of sustainability. When vocalizing on the importance of durable clothing, it must start with biodiversity and the movement of regenerative agriculture. “We rely on the healthy, functioning ecosystems needed to produce these fibers and recognize our responsibility to protect and restore critical biodiversity, which refers to all the living organisms within our natural ecosystems.” With this, 84% of J.Crew’s fibers come from land-based sources, a new way of life, a life where there is a foreseeable future. A future that starts now. 

Over a year ago, I started to realize the amount of harm I was providing to the environment as I bought from multiple fast fashion brands, obliviously buying my 5th pair of the same old graphic tee so many girls around me were praising. As I bought these pieces, I was contributing to the rise of fast-fashion and harmful toxins in our air. I would be lying to you if I said all my life I’ve shopped sustainably. I haven’t, we are all victims to the grip Tik Tok has over us on the lastest Garage tank tops or Zara sheer skirt. But we must steer our focus to the corners of second-hand stores that hold loved pieces and vintage brands that hold the greatest stories. We must think secondhand first. We must be the ones who start a new movement of shopping, a new way of styling, because if we don’t our future will no longer have the strength to hold up our closets and we will be buried by the landfills we have added to for years.