In a world where algorithm-fueled trend cycles have rendered it impossible to keep up with the latest in fashion, emerging fashion designers are inviting customers to take refuge in the worlds their creativity builds. SHAO New York’s Fall/Winter 2025 runway show took guests back to 1930s Shanghai with a New York twist.
Taiwanese-born, New York-based fashion designer, Shao Yang’s enchantment with the time period stems from her close relationship with her family from Shanghai. “I have also read a lot about Shanghai, one of my favorite cities,” Yang said. “I just love the glamour and the danger, the sexiness that was coming up in the 30’s, so that’s something I always wanted to do a collection around.”
Rather than a time machine, Yang invited guests to embark on this journey in the Seaport-side Tin Building by world-famous chef and restaurateur, Jean-Georges. A dozen food halls hummed with activity. Placing one chocolate knee-high boot in front of the other, I walked past a rainbow of fruits and a flower shop to the escalator.
Models lined up against cherry-red walls inside an Asian night market dubbed Mercantile East. I watched as Romero Jennings’ makeup team delivered final touch ups to plum and yellow-painted eyelids, reminiscent of butterfly wings. The sultry eyeshadow was only the start of the bold beauty choices to complement Yang’s sartorial vision. My eyes zeroed in on layers of exposed bobby pins woven into hair. As cameras flashed, light shimmered off of the gold and silver adornments.
“We’re just sticking them all out there. You would think not hiding them would be easier, but trying to get them to create a look and a shape is a different art form that was fun to get to do,” Jennifer Jay Marie who was a part of Ted Gibson’s hair team told me backstage about accomplishing the finger wave with mixed metals hairdo. All that hard work paid off on the runway.
To open the show, SHAO New York turned to tech of the future to conjure up the past: DataVault’s ADIO® technology projected a hologram parlor singer inside the House of the Red Pearl restaurant. As the tech projected embroidery and pleating details from east-meets-west collection, a cast of all AAPI models sported those designs.
“East meets west is also something that is a part of the DNA that I do, because I am really proud to be Asian, so even if I don’t realize it, it will have some nod or touch to my Asian heritage,” Yang told me.
The front row lined up in two L-shapes at the end of the runway. The thrill of having my seat where the vertical met the horizontal of that makeshift letter meant those models posed right in front of me, allowing for a few seconds of close clothing study. I took note of a cropped deep purple blazer with structured shoulders and a matching high-waisted leather-paneled midi skirt. The bold ensemble was accented by dramatic purple makeup, a sparkling statement choker, and sleek, sculpted hair. The look embodied a fusion of futuristic elegance and power dressing, highlighting the brand’s avant-garde approach to tailoring.
“Tailoring is my background. It is what I do the best. I also have my own custom tailoring business I’ve been doing for ten years,” Yang told me. “I’ve been able to create a lot of beautifully-tailored pieces for different body types. So when I started SHAO New york, I really wanted to bring that element of myself into my new voice.”
The butter-yellow lanterns above the runway cast a dreamy highlight on a collection grounded in a clear point of view: Oversized bedazzled T-shirts with 20th century Chinese-posters printed on the front were showcased alongside asymmetric denim-on-denim silhouettes. Statement outerwear in metallic hot pink and jewel tones were paired with double-slit dresses. Each look was a reminder that clothing like the humans that wear them contains multitudes: People can be glamorous and edgy. They can be modern and timeless. They can celebrate all the cultures that make up their identity.
“There should be no rules in fashion, come on! Fashion is supposed to be about you,” Yang said. “It’s a celebration of who you are, so whatever story you want to tell, however you want the world to see you: that’s how you should live.”
Style Speaks 