By Bethany Berkeley
Credit: Yaoyao Ma Van As
As I sit down to interview Susan Fang via Zoom, I’m immediately struck by how bubbly and confident she is. Her background filled with paintings (which she confesses are her mother’s work) immediately shows how much of an inspiration her mother is to her. “I like to have her artwork all around me because they bring good energy." I speak with Susan about her journey into fashion, her story and where she draws her inspiration from. She begins by reminiscing about the art classes she took at age four and her love for all things art related. “I loved art and art classes growing up and used to draw cartoon girls in dainty dresses. Then one day, my mum suggested that I try fashion design as a way of bringing those drawings to life.
Susan’s love for storytelling, fantasy and cartoons can be seen in all her pieces. Her background in art plays a significant part in her design process, and she expresses that going to different art schools in China, Canada, and the U.K. helped her hone her skills and develop her creative mind before going to study at Central Saint Martins. “I enjoyed my time in art school before Central Saint Martins. It gave me a diverse perspective and a chance to embrace different design concepts.” Studying at CSM provided her with the freedom to transfer these concepts of design she learnt to fashion design. Susan was able to experiment with fabrics and the way they moved on the human body, from 2D to 3D, and so she began reimagining what types of fabrics could be used to make a dress or a blouse. Developing her world of fantasy and storytelling with the use of fabric began to take centre stage in her life. “Before you create something, people never know what it will be, but once it comes to life it’s beautiful.” For her final year, Susan created pieces that moved in different directions, inspired by nature and the rhythm of nature. Nature to Susan conveys beauty and is an essential part of her culture. She lets me know this is the reason why all her collections start with the word “Air.”
After graduating from CSM, she went on to intern at CELINE and Stella McCartney, two leading brands with very different brand Identities. “Interning at both brands gave me creative balance as CELINE was more focused on developing pieces that fit their brand identity and design codes, whereas at Stella it was more about sustainability but also about how the products would sell. So, it was nice to obtain an insight into both worlds.” After two years of gaining experience in established fashion companies, Susan decided to branch out and her eponymous brand Susan Fang was birthed. “We hit the ground running and won the ‘Ones to Watch’ award from Fashion Scout, which included a sponsorship from them, so we were able to show on their runway during fashion week.” Each piece was crafted from air-weaved materials weaved by hard showing just how definitive her design process has been from the beginning. “it’s a nine-layer weave that can lay flat or be 3D, one metre takes 21 days to make, and I even persuaded my art teacher to help me. Susan set out to be innovative with her brand from her very first show by expressing a new method for fashion which focuses on the fabrics using mathematics to make them move differently on the body.
Showcasing at Labelhood in Shanghai, Susan and her brand started wholesale by selling her renowned bubble bags at the show and then later in stores. “We initially produced two bags which sold at the Labelhood runway show and in two months we made five, which got us into our first two stores. After we were contacted by Selfridges, it was absolutely fascinating for us to learn what the market was interested in.” Concentrating on adapting and responding to the market's needs, Susan’s brand began to grow and started doing its own independent shows, developing footwear, and doing campaigns across the world. She speaks to me about a campaign she did in Mongolia where the locals were her models, making the campaign down to earth and relatable. ‘We wanted to show the clothes using relatable people embarking on their daily lives and interacting with each other. It was in a remote place where there are barely any phones or signal, there’s a sense of purity in that which we loved.”
Throughout her journey, Susan mentions that she received lots of support from platforms in the industry built to support young and new designers. She was shortlisted for the LVMH prize and selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 2019 and 2020. She touches briefly on the pandemic and how it affected her saying that being in lockdown for so long nearly stifled her creativity, but she found relief in looking towards the future and nature. Susan then showed her AW22 collection in Shanghai before ultimately moving back to the U.K. where she began her fashion journey for her SS23 collection last year. The show, set against the walls of a 1920s leisure centre in the heart of London delivered a message of positivity amidst many societal woes. Onlookers were met with vivid and dynamic shades of colour, experimental silhouettes utilising her uniquely put-together fabrics and of course fantastic femineity in each design. Showing the combination of different cultures, Susan and her team created a giant piece bomb which sat in the middle of a swimming pool that became the runway. The show was an awe-inspiring one and has only set the standard for others to come.
We come back to the present for the latter part of our interview, as she speaks on her upcoming AW23 show taking place this month in London. ‘It’s stressful but also exciting to see the process of the things created from the toiles to the final fabric!’ Fashion was something Susan stumbled into but was also inevitably part of her journey, taking art classes at a young age opened up her creative mind, which remains today to be seen in each piece in her collections. Her clothes transport onlookers to another world — a world of fantasy and hope. A world where peace reigns intrinsically. Once you arrive there, you won’t want to leave.
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