New York Fashion Week Men’s: Feng Chen Wang S/S 2019

Returning once again to Men’s Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2019 was Feng Chen Wang. This season, the designer continued her exploration of human connection, though this time she looked inwards, not outwards, focusing on the things that ‘complete’ us.

‘Half’ was the word of the season, appearing in text on baseball caps, but in less literal ways too– throughout the collection, two items of clothing merged to become one. Shirts were draped on top of one another, while jackets, created as part of Wang’s ongoing collaboration with Levi’s, were layered too. Jeans had additional legs melded to them and the shoes (an iteration of Converse’s iconic Chuck Taylor All Star) saw two pairs cut up and spliced together.

These designs were accompanied by some new additions to Wang’s oeuvre, such as suits and shirts, in addition to new outerwear styles, such as trench coats and t-­‐shirts with panel details. Bags and jewelry took the form of hands, some holding hands – a universal signifier of connection – while a sculpture constructed from multiple hands stood erect in the center of the show space. Spring/Summer 2019 also saw the introduction of the Feng Chen Wang women – the female counterpart to her male character.

This season, Wang was particularly inspired by diagrams mapping the increase and decrease in temperature throughout the human body as we experience different emotions. While love warms us all over, depression cools us, and anger ignites our head, upper chest and arms. Wang explores this phenomenon through PVC body pieces that refer to different emotions and the area they heat, and in hypercolor-­‐style coats that also serve to illustrate this effect.

Alongside neutral tones, black, white and grey, crystal-­‐inspired shades of hot pink and cool blue flow throughout the collection, symbolizing love and hate, happiness and sadness, day and night, summer and winter – it’s the Feng Chen Wang yin and yang.

“Who is your other half?” Wang asks. Maybe it’s within you.

See the full collection in the gallery.

Photo Credit: Dan Lecca

Barnette Holston

Barnette runs the website, The DCFashion Fool. It's a DC based lifestyle and fashion blog showing guys how to look and feel their best through his fashion, travel and activities around town. His motto is, "You too can be a fool for fashion!"