New York fashion week is in full swing, and coming in hot (or cold rather) is Sandy Liang’s new SS25 collection, supposedly inspired by busy metropolitan girl bosses who don’t want to sacrifice their femininity for professionalism. Her ultra kawaii pieces have spread across social media like wildfires over the years, offering items like dainty ballet flats and giant bow bags. While we can forgive the volcanic eruption of bows in Liang’s previous drops, we need to draw the uninspired line somewhere. Having the tired—actually exhausted—stylist Dean DiCriscio do her shows is really not helping. Looking back at the FW24 drop earlier this year, we saw the tacky pattern persist with offensive sweatsuits and abhorrent layering. For her new ensemble, Liang was apparently inspired by the tween cartoon Totally Spies—this would have been an incredible idea if the pieces looked like they were inspired by the show and not the Fashion Nova clearance section. Liang is also under fire for ripping off other designers; L’ecole Des Femmes owner and designer Laura Sfez made a recent Instagram post that showcases how Liang has been copying her ideas for years, specifically with her schoolgirl looks, such as the Belle de Jour dress. Sfez’s work is incredibly well-crafted, high-quality, and deserves your money more than Liang as the mother of cheeky French uniforms.

Historically, Liang’s ethos has been a play on youth, bringing the whimsy of girlhood into adulthood through nostalgic references such as Sailor Moon, rosettes, satin bows, mermaids, and princess ballerinas. It is the actual execution that has once again sorely failed—the idea is quite lovely but in practice something has gone horribly wrong. The collection is supposed to go against the grain of “dress your age,” but somehow all the pieces look like they were made for 93 year olds. The garments are ill-fitting on the models, swallowing them up, making them look like they are either a woman wearing toddlers clothes or a toddler wearing their mothers clothes. We’re not saying her looks don’t deserve to be on the runway, but comparing them to other designers that are pushing artistic boundaries and committing to subversive new developments in fashion, we’ve just made landfall on Floptropolis Island. It’s not that the pieces aren’t pretty, it’s that you can find the same items at Zara since like 2010.

^{Images Courtesy of Vogue}

Possibly the worst part is that everyone seems to be okay with the pieces resembling a hypothetical Drag Race category called Squid Game Uniform Eleganza Extravaganza. Nothing but rave reviews could be seen online after the show, mostly from NYC influencers and major publishing sites. Women would wear a trash bag as a dress if it was marketed as coming-of-age or ‘inspired by girlhood.’ One of the looks in the show is a frumpy beige belted dress similar to an apron you would sew in middle school home economics. The dress is finished with a giant white rose tacked on to a belt, like someone off Godfather OG Kush was playing pin the tail on the donkey. I don’t even think H&M would put out something like that anymore. If this is Liang’s idea of magical feminine fantasy, I’m really scared to learn what her idea of a regular woman is. Another model can be seen in a beige trench coat that I can only describe as giving elderly Peeping Tom. The trench is paired with pink kitten heels and a rhinestone necklace, however she still manages to appear naked. One dress is just silver sequins with a bare pink sash strapped over top—the point of this is really perplexing—if Target had a bachelorette party line, that would be it. Liang deserves praise where it’s due, the uniformed mini dresses are adorable. Are they original though? Absolutely not.

It’s hard to say what Liang will bring to the table next—she should propose a collab with Vladimir Putin, he would love her approach to garments made for authoritative dictatorship or perhaps prisoners of war. It’s not like anyone would be able to order them though, because her online drops sell out in about 0.5 seconds (again, not sure why or how). I fear her inner saboteur is stopping her from going all the way, as RuPaul would say. Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to pull yourself back up, and hopefully she is able to do so without completely ripping off other designers concepts. According to Vogue, Liang ended her show notes with the line, “Each piece is password protected; only you can unlock it.” She should have set up two-factor authentication too because we’ve cracked the code to the pieces, now we just have to lock them back up tightly and pray they are never found again.