The Sandy Liang Effect

Sandy Liang, Sandy Liang, Sandy Liang. Let me say this, if I don't somehow get my hands on the Sandy Liang X Baggu Collab after I messed up on the SECOND wave of bags being sold, I am going to have to hibernate in my room for the rest of my life. With the emergence of the ballet aesthetic upon recent years, it is not a surprise to me that Sandy Liang has blown up. I think her aesthetic is gorgeous. The silhouettes are gorgeous. I think what I love the most is the chicness of the pieces and yet they are so undeniably feminine in a wholesome way. They often use ill fitting or baby doll like forms that while not form fitting or "sexy" exude beauty, confidence, and femininity. Her most recent runway for spring/summer 2024 was full of bows and bows which is a constant motif in her work. The collection is reminiscent of girlhood escapism taking inspiration from the look worn by Cecilia Lisbon in the movie The Virgin Suicides. The picture is shown on the right. Cecilia wears a lace dress with flip

flops, and Liang stated that she saw the dress as beautiful because it was ill fitting. Her mood-board was based on the idea of a girl who wanted to explore, detach from reality, and find specimens, even using a shell phone similar to as in Aquamarine. Gemstones were also ever present on the face and hands like barnacles. I dare you to look the collection up because it is gorgeous. Overall, the collection plays on her strengths full of bows and girlishness. It honestly reminds me of the barbie movie. It is only meant for the girls, you know? It feels like only something that someone who was once an awkward young girl would understand. Away from her most recent collection we go. Now, I need you to remember the motifs. BOWS. BALLET. BOWS. I have seen this girlish playfulness in so many outfits recently. There are bows in hair, purses, JEANS, COWBOY BOOTS. LIKE WTF COWBOY BOOTS. They're caught in the Sandy Liang effect. Think of the ballet flat and the mary jane. right? the reemergence of that into normal streetwear instead of corporate America. What is your first thought when you see them? mine is SANDY LIANG. Now, something to look at too is who attended this most recent show. Every single person in attendance was able to capture this aura. Lola Tung from the Summer I turned Pretty, Anna Sophia Robb from Soul Surfer, and Erika Titus, a Tik Tok star. Each of these people has this quaint, beautiful air of femininity to them. They meet the aesthetic PERFECTLY. All had spectacular looks on full of bows, rose kissed cheeks, and a panty hose or sock with a mary jane or ballet flat to complete the look. Execution was immaculate. Even if you just look up street wear outside the show, you know what the brand is, and by having these celebs present, it opens up more exposure to other consumers to the product and concept. I challenge you to now look at people you walk by and see who has the Sandy Liang Effect.

Why is the Samba EATING up the market?

Okay y'all let me give you some back story. For the past year and a half I would say I had the Samba on my radar. and NO. I am not saying that as the "oh I am a gatekeeper and blah blah blah, I find trends first" bs. Well.... I do gate keep sometimes, BUT moral of the story is that I had been wanting the shoe. I saw some of my favorite fashionistas wearing them, and what can I say, I am not gonna pass up a good staple shoe for my collection. To continue, I started looking through depop, direct retailers, and company sites for the shoe in hopes of finding them for retail value or LOWER cause girl I had no money because I had school and college softball (I am indeed a broke college student but that is why I am a finance girlie). Side note, can we talk about the struggle of loving clothes and fashion when you DO NOT HAVE THE MONEY TO AFFORD IT?? Like how am i supposed to dress how I want without the funds. I will go into this at another point in time, but seriously it's a rough time. Continuing my Samba search, one day I went to the thrift store in Tampa AND BABY IT WAS MY LUCKY DAY because I walked into Avalon Exchange and lo and behold a pair of good conditioned black sambas were waiting for me in a size up from normal, but girl I did not care. I snagged those puppies ASAP AND RAN. well obviously i bought them. However, my hunt for a colored pair continued. This was circa de samba surge we are in now. I would say this was last fall. Again, blah blah blah broke college student couldn't buy another pair, yet the goal was to buy THE EXACT PAIR in the picture I have on this post. They're stunning to this day, and I still want them. The spring continues, and I start to see the popularity rise on Tik Tok, and I am thinking oh h*** no because the way my brain thinks is I do not want a shoe that is on every foot. Well, yes for some I do, and will go into depth later, but I think uniqueness is what makes fashion amazing. Any how, I go to New York in the Summer right, drum roll please, EVERY GIRL HAS THE FREAKING SHOE ON. I swear I have never seen a shoe worn more than this soccer shoe besides the putrid air force 1's, which I will stand by to this day. It appeared that the shoe colors in question were the white and black sambas, but on occasion I would see the pair mentioned above, a blue or red gazelle, or the platform pink gazelle. In general, it was the neutral color ways. Now, I need to preface, I still like the Samba, I just wish I personally had gotten more vibrant colors. Fast forward to the present, and I see a Samba every day at my University. EVERY DAY. Tik Tok overflows with outfits that center around the Samba as it has become a more accessible shoe. Originally, as I stated when I found my pair in the fall, the demand and supply of the Samba made it not as accessible therefore providing it with more value. Anyone in the fashion world at the time was scrambling to get their hands on a pair ESPECIALLY the Gucci or Wales Bonner collabs. As popularity was gained, the demand increased, but the supply dramatically increased creating major surplus in the market. What was once unaccessible, was now easily bought in an Adidas store or website. Now, this idea, in my opinion, primarily applies to the black and white color ways. There is still scarcity with certain color ways and designs especially with rising collabs causing the resell market to still benefit, but in general, there has been mass production of the black and white shoes. Therefore, distribution to multiple consumers comes into play. Here is where I theorize. The question becomes what was the draw to this shoe away from the traditional Air Force one, Veja, or Converse? My theory is this: everyone has that one stylish friend right. so the chain works like this. that one friend starts wearing the shoe, then the others hop on, and so on so forth. This idea is similar to the Stanley water cup. the key missing factor in this equation is the consumer that causes the BOOM. Can you guess who it is? It is the Gen Z girl TAH DAH. right? think they consume media and products on the daily and are the considered cool hip generation. Once that group finds a product they like BANG it spreads like wild fire. The tendency from many girl groups I know is the sharing of trends. Often when one loves a trend like Lululemon clothing and the Stanley Cup what happens next? the whole friend group has it. Now everywhere i turn on campus I see this shoe. So what is next? does this become the next beater shoe? does it become the next converse or air force 1 worn with every outfit because of its simple color way and silhouette? Maybe. Personally, I am not sure if I will buy another pair in the near future BUT if a cool color way pops out that would be great with my style then maybe I will. Unfortunately, this will most likely by a short term trend until the next shoe takes a hold of the younger generation, but for now the Samba is EATING the market up.