At Shushu/Tong, a colorful umbrella on every seat nods to Jacques Demy’s 1964 whimsical classic The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a key reference point for Darling Melancholy, the spring collection's title. It brought a little French New Wave to Shanghai, with Mary Quant and Courrèges also in the mix, plus a dash of Miu Miu. Along for the ride: short, girly silhouettes, petal-edged details, balloon skirts and macramé lace in candy-colored combinations. Add to that a drizzle of embellishments and beaded daisies to keep the mood upbeat. Everything was exceedingly pretty, neatly proportioned, and disarmingly wearable. Melancholy, however, was another matter. Whatever heartbreak was unfolding in Demy’s film, here it had been given a pink umbrella and told to cheer up. Just when it all got very sweet, a few sporty details jogged by, though it was the accessories that had the last word: each girl clutched a ladylike boxy bag in the crook of her arm like a Pop Art toy.
Designers Liushu Lei and Yutong Jiang spoke of their childhood obsessions with Japanese anime, a sensibility that has long hovered around the label’s schoolgirl uniform codes and slightly unreal prettiness. This season, the ‘60s passed “through an Asian lens,” they said, and came out as clothes with no interest in bittersweet longing. The melancholy may have been in the title, but it certainly wasn’t in the skirts. The brand’s well-groomed front row sized up all that cuteness with the laser focus of VICs already mentally adding those skirts to their carts.