The Art of the Sandy Liang Girl
design: Katie Huang
The New York-based designer is taking hyper-femininity and making it practical.
by KACIE MOSCHELLA ★ NOVEMBER 29, 2023
In an interview with the high-fashion retailer SSENSE, the clothing designer Sandy Liang shared the moodboard for her 2024 collection. “She’s wearing her mom’s old lace dress with grippy sport sandals from TJ Maxx,” one of her sticky notes reveals. “She has dirt on her knees.” This simple, seemingly throwaway description of an imaginary girl borrowing old clothes from her mother perfectly captures the essence of the Sandy Liang brand: taking childhood nostalgia and making it practical.
The 32-year-old designer began her self-titled collection in 2014, fresh out of the Parsons School of Design. By 2018, Liang’s label had its first buzzy item: a bold yet playful fleece that became something of a holy grail among designers once Gigi Hadid was spotted wearing it in New York City.
In 2022, she introduced her line’s first shoe: a Mary Jane flat with a pointe toe that conjures memories of after-school ballet. According to the New York Times, the initial inventory of about 800 pairs sold out in two days. Those flats, which originally cost $495 and came in several colors, are still sought after.
Last spring, the designer went semi-viral after releasing two pairs of technical sneakers in collaboration with the company Saloman. Yet her August collaboration with the accessories brand Baggu saw Liang becoming a household name. One of the pieces in the Baggu collection, which quickly sold out online, was a $62 nylon shoulder bag with thin bows adorning its handle; before the bag was even available for purchase, fashion influencers began sharing TikTok videos of their D.I.Y. versions.
As of late, hundreds of TikTok users have spread a meme by sharing their interpretation of how to dress like a Sandy Liang model. The popular user Grace San (@n0tgr4ciee on TikTok) posted a Sandy Liang lookbook which featured this voiceover: “First, put on a really, really tiny top. Then, put on a pleated skirt, some knee-high socks, hiking shoes (preferably Salomans). Put your hair up into braids or space buns or pigtails. Add some dad sunglasses, and bows everywhere. That’s it!”
What sets Sandy Liang apart from other designers attempting the hyper-femininity trend is her unique pieces that mix pragmatism (a miniskirt with built-in shorts) with whimsy (a giant pink scrunchie shaped like a flower). The Sandy Liang aesthetic is prevalent among the Lower East Side style (a similar meme about the Lower East Side Girl is almost identical to this new one). It is not difficult to see why so many young women are attracted to Liang’s designs: she explores the tensions between functional and “girlie” fashion by repopularizing clothing that has been closely associated with girlhood, like hair bows and ballet skirts, without making her clothing completely impractical.
Liang, who grew up in New York City, is part of a tradition of female-identifying designers subverting ultra-feminine clothing. Anna Sui, who single-handedly made babydoll dresses part of the 90s grunge movement, has even said that her clothes' unapologetic “girliness” is why so many women have identified with what she does.
The popularity of the Sandy Liang girl proves that girly fashion is here to stay, and I cannot wait to see what she comes up with next.