Shanghai Fashion Week: SHUSHU/TONG go into the backrooms of life, and its darkness.

SHUSHU/TONG is revisiting their roots by diving away from reality. Staging their show back in their native city of Shanghai, the idea behind the unabashedly delicate and relaxingly confident designs first came to fruition in 2015, where Liushu Lei and Yutong Jiang got together to explore a different side of the femme feeling, combining it with the bustling spirit of the urban archetype - potent, powerful and multidimensional.

It has been a few seasons since Lei and Jiang have shown their collections in Shanghai - the piercing COVID pandemic forced the city to shut its doors for international travel, and China’s zero-COVID policy left Shanghai empty until the end of 2022, allowing visitors and travel all over again. The idea this season was inspired by the dark forums of the Web, specifically the multiple Reddit topics on the concept of “Backrooms”. What is that you may ask? The term “Backrooms” rose to fame in 2019 where netizens (the term used to define fiercely frequent Internet users) would start sharing eerie images of abandoned and alien-like places, bringing together the feeling of having escaped reality and slipped into an alternate universe.

Becoming more and more fascinated with this concept, SHUSHU/TONG aimed to come back to Shanghai and set the new chapter of the story, connecting the beginnings with the present day. Speaking to Perfect, Lei and Jiang talk about bridging the tradition of their craft with the outlook towards the new dawn of fashion.

Angel: SHUSHU/TONG, how does it feel to be back in your native Shanghai, after years of severe lockdowns and difficulties?

SHUSHU/TONG: We feel so relieved now lockdown is over and we are getting used to life after covid. All of our colleagues are very excited for the future, and we are finally planning some long-overdue trips overseas!

Angel: Tell me more about the starting point of creating this collection, what were your references?

SHUSHU/TONG: We didn’t have a specific starting point with this collection. I had learned about the “backroom” story through a friend of mine and this immediately triggered my creative process. Another key reference for this collection was the TV show, “L’amica Geniale” – we have been fans for years!

Angel: How have the last couple of years changed your process of creation, do you work in a different way?

SHUSHU/TONG: We are still quite traditional in the sense that we’re huge believers that fashion is a technique that requires you to touch and feel the fabric and finishing. There are new digital platforms that have helped us with our sales though, including an online showroom which allows us to video-call and helps with our communicating globally.

Angel: How has the SHUSHU/TONG muse changed and how do you see them evolving with this collection?

SHUSHU/TONG: Every season, we are expanding our femininity story. I think our SHUSHU/TONG girl is evolving season-by-season, and this season she is cooler, more-mysterious with a slight oddness.

Angel: What are you looking forward to in this year ahead? What is next on the cards for SHUSHU/TONG?

SHUSHU/TONG: We want to create an amazing SS24 collection, that’s our ultimate goal now. Excitingly, we will bring our collection to Paris for sales in September after not seeing our clients in person for over three years! Generally, we try to focus more on the current moment, instead of worrying about future - this is one of the biggest lessons from the last couple of years.