There is no denying it: throughout the global pandemic that had the entire world under siege since the beginning of last year, many designers and fashion houses decided to pare things way back and shift their focus towards functionality rather than looks.

Sandy Liang, however, is not on the list of those designers.

“That’s the fundamental thing they teach you in design school: you have to be aspirational, you have to design for your dream woman. And I always kind of scoffed at that,” Liang explains. “I think that was the right thing to do when I was younger, but now it’s really important to be optimistic and to design things that don’t make sense for right now.”

Truly aspirational in its nature, Sandy Liang’s Fall 2021 range is rich in its fabrics: fanciful tulles, gorpcore fleeces, pleated skirts and sweet, frilly dresses in gingham and floral. The fact that she skilled the resort season for the first time allowed the designer to be more liberal with her creative process and spend more time working on the designs for fall. “It was me trying to sketch and play, look less at numbers,” Liang said during a collection preview. “I think every designer has that internal struggle — do I want to make what I think is safe and will sell, or what I am really interested in this season?”

The collection was still of Liang’s favorites — dreamy, dress-up garments; slightly preppier, feminine looks; fleeces and puffer jackets; modern, innovative takes on skirt suiting. “One of my forever inspirations is after-school vibes,” Liang notes. “Why not? I would wear that, even though it’s not the most practical thing.” And in this way, Liang fashions in the label’s first shoe — a Mary Jane with a pointed toe, styled in typical Sandy Liang fashion. Uplifting and aspirational, all while being reasonably grounded and attainable at the very same time.