“It’s my vision of the duality of the Yang Li woman; her obsession with being in and out of control,” said the brand’s namesake founder. He revealed a sexier side to the label in his spring collection, all the while retaining its sharp, urban edge.
The show, which featured a haunting live performance by Jehnny Beth from the Savages, opened with white shirtdresses spliced with tone-on-tone snakeskin textures, flowing shirt cuffs opened right up to the elbow with mini belts wrapped around the upper arm, tourniquet style, and strapped across the chest. The designer maintained his knack for controlled deconstruction and raw cuts on patchwork leathers — from metallics to snakeskin — joined by zips and scarlike crisscross stitching, while volume at the back of tailored jackets and cocoon coats in double-faced, deep-purple wool-cotton blends added a certain softness and sensuality.
The line’s nocturnal, vampy side emerged in sculptural leather minis with lacing details and asymmetric, multimedia dresses in long and brief versions. A pair of untie-me leather pants with crisscross lacing running all the way up to the hip “hinted at a woman’s darker, [sexual] side,” Li said.