For spring, Uma Wang said she wanted to focus on what remains after everything extraneous is stripped away. Her main inspiration, she added, was the recent retrospective on Constantin Brancuși at the Centre Pompidou.
“I loved what he did with different materials, putting together stone, marble and mirrors,” Wang offered backstage before the show. “The exhibition was so incredible, I immediately wanted to transpose it and find that balance, but then also something different with the details,” she said. Her goal, she added, was to pare back and approach clothing as if it were a sculpture or birds floating on mirror ponds.
The lighting in the American Cathedral threw draped effects, unusual fabric treatments and glinting mirror accessories into dramatic relief. Some prints, including a floral from Wang’s early archives, looked as if they had been plucked from a French herbarium, but the designer left backs bare to amp up sensuality. “Showing skin is more feminine,” she noted.
Sculptural silhouettes appeared to reinterpret toga styles to dramatic effect, or to splice a New Look-style peplum, held aloft with burgundy tulle, with a sleek black evening sheath. Textural effects included shiny laminates, waxing and jacquards treated inside out, their threads teased into shags. “I want people to see how beautiful the back is, it’s like an art piece,” Wang said. “I like an element of surprise, of doing something a little bit wrong. If everything is correct, that’s just boring.” Also new to her repertoire was an earthy, cocoa palette that the designer deemed adaptable to all seasons.
Seated in the front row, Suzi de Givenchy described Wang as the epitome of the modern Chinese woman. “She s fierce and strong and really embracing what she sees as beauty, which is something you don’t really see that often,” she said. “Uma’s reserved, but when she speaks you can really feel her power.” The clothes, too, spoke volumes.
