Temper presents five facts on our most fashion bone tickling brand of the day as featured in Labelhood’s live-stream lineup during Shanghai Cloud Fashion Week AW20. Labeled “SAMUEL Guì YANG”: Check!
Related
Special Notice! Temper Explains: How to Enter The SHFW AW20 Cloud
Who?
SAMUEL Guì YANG is a multi-disciplinary design studio based in London, incorporating garments, objects, and printed matter. Additionally and frequently striking up a fashion conversation between East and West, barring all sense of “cultural appropriation”.
Yang’s modern take on traditional Chinese dress, decked out in close-fitting Western tailoring, has gathered him many fans in the waxing Shanghai fashion scene. And Temper is in the mood for — get it, get it?! — a sip of that modish mélange. #weheartcheesy
Related
In the Mood for a Qipao Tale of Tradition, Trendsetters, and Controversy
Yang holds both BA and MA degrees in Womenswear Design from, where other than, London’s pride and never too cool for school joy: Central Saint Martins.
The designer later interned with Alexander Wang’s Womenswear RTW team as well as a number of other small independent designers in London.
Related
The Temper Top Ten Hardcore Heroes: For Diehard And Doozie Ones Only
What?
The designer’s interest in fashion, as stated in a 2016 interview with Vogue Italia, is “guided by an interest in the human form, which developed from a background in fine arts”. Specifically as in how it allows contact or proximity to the living body that isn’t as obvious in other artistic media.
Looking at the overall label aesthetics, the brand’s qipao silhouette, for instance, is one outspoken example of Chinese and Western tailoring coming together. It bears the evident Chinese detailing of the Mandarin collar, the diagonal opening, and high side-slits plus those undeniably first-class Chinese fabrics,…
Yet underneath lies the inspiration for figure-hugging construction. A staple out of the western tailoring book. And a trend that is set to continue throughout Yang’s AW20 body of work.
It’s a wardrobe full of little murderers. It kills. The competition.

SAMUEL Guì YANG, SS20 PITTI Mens. All rights reserved

SAMUEL Guì YANG, SS20 PITTI Mens. All rights reserved

SAMUEL Guì YANG, SS20 PITTI Mens. All rights reserved

SAMUEL Guì YANG, SS20 PITTI Mens. All rights reserved

SAMUEL Guì YANG, SS20 PITTI Mens. All rights reserved
When?
Born and raised in Shenzhen, Yang graduated from Central Saint Martins back in 2015. He founded his eponymous studio soon after.
With the support of the young brand incubator Labelhood, Yang staged his SS20 collection during Shanghai Fashion Week in October 2019. Which in turn made it onto the Vogue Business Top Five Buyer’s Picks list.
His brand in February 2020 was shortlisted for this year’s LVMH Young Designer Award.

SS20, Moon Lighting -“白日美人”. Yong Foo Elite, Shanghai Fashion Week. Photography: Xavier Mas. Styling: Lyson Marchessault. Casting: Ning Lu. H|MUA: LOREAL Pro & Maybelline
His AW20 endeavor continues to merge Eastern and Western influences in “Spellbound”, a collection inspired by Tsai Chin. A daughter of the famous Peking Opera star Zhou Xinfang, Chin left Shanghai in 1950, becoming the first Chinese student at London’s prestigious RADA acting school. And the first Bond girl of Asian origin. #FYI
Last, but not least… In addition to the 31 designer brands releasing their AW20 collections via Labelhood’s Tmall Live channel at Shanghai Cloud Fashion Week AW20, Yang (together with that other budding Temper tasty Yuhan Wang) did not live-stream his newfangled styles but instead offered viewers a sneak peek of his new work through exclusively designed online videos.

SS20, Moon Lighting -“白日美人”. Yong Foo Elite, Shanghai Fashion Week. Photography: Xavier Mas. Styling: Lyson Marchessault. Casting: Ning Lu. H|MUA: LOREAL Pro & Maybelline
Where?
Opting in on the slow fashion game, for the first two seasons, Yang refused to sell his collections to buyers. In a bid to perfect the logistics and infrastructure of his brand before entering the market. Runway vs Run-a-way.
To this day, rather than stage elaborate catwalk extravaganzas, the label prefers the setting of intimate showroom presentations and immersive destinations (one recent such launch location being Iceland).
The brand is currently stocked across multiple influential brick and mortar shops, including London’s R130 and Browns Fashion. Online, you can find the garments across Farfetch and Lane Crawford.
Why?
Fashion’s history in the Middle Kingdom wells over with diversification, running far and wide, a scene to be taken in by anyone who takes an interest. According to Yang in a March 2020 interview with 1Granary, “It is important to question the idea of the Western wardrobe as the default.”
Whereas everything else goes into the “cultural experience” crate.
On a closing note, Yang in that same vein told 1Granary: “The world is still widening its perspective of culture and I am happy to give my own interpretation. It took me some time to find the right way to merge my own culture with Western fashion. But, in the end, it is s inevitable to [as a designer] reflect on your heritage.”
In the mood for more on this desirous designer?
Instagram: @samuelguiyang
Sales:
Rui Liu
sales@samuelguiyang.com
Press:
studio@samuelguiyang.com
Mobile: +44 (0) 7533 373047
FEATURED IMAGE: SAMUEL Guì YANG, SS18. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
SPOTTED A FASHION FAIL OR HAVE SOMETHING TO ADD? PLEASE LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW OR EMAIL US AT INFO@TEMPER-MAGAZINE.COM
© THE CHINA TEMPER, A TEMPER MEDIA PRODUCTION, 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
DO NOT REPRODUCE TEMPER MEDIA CONTENT WITHOUT CONSENT -– YOU CAN CONTACT US AT INFO@TEMPER-MAGAZINE.COM
- Upping the ANTA: Niche Sportswear, the New Frontier In Athleisure Apparel - November 25, 2023
- China’s He Economy: What Men Want - November 18, 2023
- The Changing Role of Women in China: A Century in Clothing - November 3, 2023