YUHAN WANG SS27
Yuhan Wang Spring Summer 2027 Collection. London, September 19th, 2026
For SS27, Designer Yuhan Wang delved into the particular strangeness in the moments just before sleep, moments where things that seemed recognisable by day take on a different shape as the light begins to dim and the imagination takes a different state.
Words by Leigh Maynard
In the darkness, our thoughts change, and we see things in a different light; things we ruminate on, can take on a different intensity. Here, different versions of ourselves can coexist simultaneously, from expectation, obedience, or social acceptance to instinct or emotion. Here, in the after-hours, the privacy of one's bedroom becomes a place to delve into different facets of ourselves, with dreams allowing us to explore these different sides through a mash-up of memories, desires, and emotions.
It's a version of oneself rarely seen, dressed in a different wardrobe style with delicate lace, nightdresses, and sentimental objects that are deeply personal and not seen by the outside, but no less a part of ourselves.
SS27 asks the audience to accompany Yuhan into the world of dreams, a place between dress and undress, one that evokes an unusual, playful and unexpected style: lingerie beneath a polo shirt, lace stockings, outerwear and innerwear fused; the bedroom is part sanctuary and part place to explore these hidden versions.
Yuhan wanted to examine this idea as a woman, understanding that part of the feminine condition is being expected to be all things at all times, and she explained why the idea of sleep itself resonated. “Sweet Nightmare used ideas of dreams to present a woman's inner world. I thought of the bedroom to represent her personal space. So in this space, a bit like the idea of a room all one's own, in this room, she can exist outside of how she's expected to be or seen. In this space, actually, different sides of herself can come out naturally. Her emotions, memories, desires, and more instinctive side of her personality. For me, it's like this collection is entering her mind.”
Just as the protagonist in the collection explores those different sides, Yuhan also investigated this idea from a personal perspective and as a designer. “I'm a designer, but also I'm a womenswear designer. I'm a woman. So I do present how women feel nowadays. I try to express and reveal women's inner worlds and the very sensitive parts within. And the clothes occupy a space between dress and undress, too.”
SS27 takes the audience into a particular moment around the bedroom narrative: “When you arrive home, it's naturally a place to mix; maybe you just went to the gym, you have got a sports bra, and you suddenly change to your loungewear or maybe a pyjama or something. So we're capturing women's daily moments from their bedroom.” For Yuhan, texture is also a way to investigate all sides of femininity. “I love to explore different materials and the colour and texture. I think probably I like the drawer dress. It's like you pull your inner world out of a drawer, and you're saying it all belongs to you; it's your personal objects.” This also extends to the styling, where a lint brush or bone china becomes part of the outfit itself; along with bedroom elements, the dress is decorated with partially open drawers that reveal items that shed further light on our personality.
The designer is known for her philosophy of softness that empowers, and that idea extends to this collection. “I think that's how I started from the beginning for my BA and MA collection, and still today.” It's a design language that has become part of Yuhan Wang’s DNA but also continues to evolve year on year. “In the beginning, you design things probably as an artist, just explore your, how you think about the world. And then once you enter the industry, you talk to the journalists and to the buyers, and even to your customers, and then you understand what they want. So it can be more practical, more wearable probably. But still carry on this kind of spirit,” she expresses.
As the final model walked down the runway, she stepped through sheer curtains and found a bed, a place to stop, rest and lay her head, amidst the different fragments of herself, to sleep, to dream and to become yet another version, free to coexist with the others and to be whoever she wants. In a world where we all feel so much pressure to conform in our daily lives, Yuhan’s delicate yet empowering philosophy lets us drop this rigidity in a playful, elegant, whimsical, and beautifully expressive way. For in our dreams we can be whomever we want to be, and what can be mor enticing than that.
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