YEOHLEE SPRING 2021 REVIEW - Vogue

October 2, 2020

by Liana Satenstein

For her socially distanced, remote showing of her Spring 2021 collection, Yeohlee Teng decided to film a video. When discussing settings with the director, she looked outside at her office’s West 29th street and noticed how the block was slowly coming back to life. She decided to film right there. Like many, Teng had witnessed the massive shutdown on her store’s street during COVID-19. Only recently had her block shown signs of life. Her longtime model scootered down the street among passerby, delivery men, and cyclists. It’s great to see Teng’s clothes in person but seeing them function in public, or out in the wild, is a different experience. The clothes have always had a conceptual edge: More often than not, a simple cape will transform into something else thanks to a nip, tuck, or tie.

As always, Teng kept to her zero-waste mantra. This season, she included hand-painted scraps that she found around her office. The concept worked quite well when it was abstract, such as a top that had a wave illustrated on it with a pair of boyish silk satin pleated front, the perfect combination of polish and roughness. In other instances, the painting was meant to say something, in this case it was a comment on the current state of politics and the urge to vote. Pieces had “Vote” splashed onto them, like a monastic robe with a bib over the chest. Here, “vote” was written down the middle. As mass-produced, vote-minded merch is making waves throughout the industry, it is nice to see Teng take a more personal, thoughtful approach.

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