Sandy Liang’s Spy-Inspired SS25 Collection

Every year, New York Fashion Week provides American brands the chance to show their designs in an increasingly competitive global industry. Iconic names like Ralph Lauren and Coach have solidified their legacies over the past few decades, long enough for audiences to understand their artistic vision. Yet, new and younger designers are arriving on the scene to make their mark. One of those designers, Sandy Liang, has cemented herself as one of the most exciting American designers to watch. Liang, an alum of Parsons School of Design, founded her eponymous clothing brand in 2014. Liang began designing, highly influenced by her childhood and Chinese heritage, shaping a brand identity that fans now recognize as a nostalgic blend of feminine prep. 

This year, Liang held her Spring/Summer 2025 show at the Altman Building in Chelsea. At the top of the runway, a star was projected on a wall – a touch that felt reminiscent of the 2000s. 

She spoke about the inspirations for this collection, accrediting the cartoon Totally Spies, and imagines the Sandy Liang girl as “a secret agent.” One can see the spy-esque influence with the first four looks, all featuring a loosely-fitted mini dress. Liang mentioned that she has always been inspired by “the idea of a personal uniform.” All four dresses were styled with a small bag, making them feel more effortless, as if the model threw the clothing on in a rush. Nearly every jacket and button-up blouse incorporates Liang’s iconic Peter Pan collar, adding a sense of childhood back into the lives of the busy city girls.

There were some outliers sprinkled throughout the collection that felt out of place. For example, Look 14 and 15 strayed away from Liang’s typical pastel color palette, presenting neon green and pink sets (maybe she is referencing Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Odd Parents?) 

Liang then takes the audience back to the 80s in Look 23 with an iridescent green dress with large shoulder pads and a drop waist silhouette. 

Compared to past collections, this show felt very toned down, with a lack of bows and the overly romantic things we are now seeing fizzle out of the trend cycle; however, the “random” ensembles like the neon and 80s dress are perhaps her attempt to step outside the box she has drawn for herself.

While the looks were all individually beautiful, the overall collection felt too simple to the point of abstraction. The minimal styling shifted the audience’s focus to the garments themselves, some of which we have seen before, like the trench coat with the Peter Pan collar. 

Liang caught the wave of the ballet-core explosion at the perfect time, and she significantly added to the coquette, cosmopolitan style that flooded our Instagram feeds within the past two years. But, that wave has crashed. Now she needs to get back on the board and keep going. There are ways for her to keep her brand's identity while also pushing the envelope a little bit, which undoubtedly, she can do. Fortunately, Liang has secured her name as an emerging American designer, and we will continue to watch what she creates.