In Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher, Isabelle Huppert stars as Erika Kohut, an imbalanced piano tutor who engages in a sadomasochistic relationship with one of her pupils. The psychosexual drama is a powerful and often disturbing portrait of a complex woman who at first glance may appear simple and unremarkable, but inside contains fires. It’s the way in which Huppert portrays both diffident restraint and how she vigorously—and sometimes maniacally—unleashes Erika’s inner chaos that inspired Liushu Lei (ShuShu) and Yutong Jiang (TongTong) this season.
The push and pull between desire and rejection, the tension between feeling wanted and finding power in refusal is what ShuShu and TongTong wanted to dramatize. The result was a somewhat familiar brand of “ugly” sophistication (it’s not the first time that Mrs. Prada’s singular vernacular was evoked this season, in Shanghai and across the globe), but here it helped the designers reveal a captivating new layer to ShuShu/Tong. Where the designers’ precise vision of beauty and elegance has felt prim and specific in the past, this season had more vibrancy.
In place of their usual chocolate browns and other deep tones, there were lively mints, pearly pinks, bright blue ginghams, and an effervescent wine red. In lieu of satins and heavy silks, they offered chiffons, georgettes, and rayons and what looked like a lacy cotton voile. It all felt light and rather weightless, with hints of structure provided by wool suitings and twills fashioned into dressy sheaths and knit separates.
The collection’s sensuality came from complicated, unconventional cuts and design elements. Cardigans were cropped and oftentimes shaped like boleros. They were hybridized with each other or with frilly georgette sleeves, and revealed just enough of the collarbone or the midriff to feel alluring but not superfluous. Skirts revealed a peekaboo inset of lace at the upper-thigh level, but only when models walked and skin met with the underlayer of their clothes. Classic ShuShu/Tong bows on A-line skirts were loosened and untied to trail behind each model, and pencil skirts were shown in doubles, the top layer left undone and peeling off.
ShuShu/Tong can often feel girly, but this season the word was womanly. If the goal was to portray a woman’s inner worlds and the complexity of maturity, they managed with aplomb.