By: Marissa Ross
In New York City, reinvention is a constant. The city is built on resilience, where exhaustion and ambition collide, the struggle is a given, and elegance often emerges from the most unexpected places. WÀNGDA’s Autumn/Winter 2025 collection, presented at NeueHouse Madison Square during fashion week, embodies this tension between weariness and refinement, crafting a sartorial reflection of New York’s energy.
Designer Wàngda Chen has once again proven his ability to balance structure with emotion, presenting a profoundly personal collection and universally resonant collection. His work meditates perseverance, channeling the complexity of the human experience—the contradictions, the exhaustion, the transformation that happens when one refuses to break. Through careful tailoring and thoughtful storytelling, this season’s collection reflects themes of resilience and growth.
Wàngda Chen understands reinvention on a personal level. At sixteen, he left his homeland and immersed himself in American culture, learning to navigate the fine line between tradition and modernity. His collections have always reflected this tension, weaving together Eastern restraint and Western dynamism. The result is an aesthetic that feels both restrained and expressive, a duality that has become a defining characteristic of his work.
For Wàngda, fashion is more than fabric and form—it reflects life’s paradoxes. “Life is a paradox where struggle and beauty, love and hate, admiration and jealousy intertwine,” he shared after the presentation. “A loved one can break your heart, and a stranger can heal your wound. No one is ahead or behind; we are all on our journeys. Life is exhausting, but it’s glamorous—I think that’s something I can live with.”
Much like New York, his designs celebrate transformation as an art form. Breaking down is never an end—only a step toward reinvention.
Set against the backdrop of NeueHouse Madison Square, WÀNGDA’s Autumn/Winter 2025 presentation unfolded like a visual poem about survival. Models presented deliberate weariness, hollowed expressions, and smudged makeup, capturing exhaustion’s essence. Their tailored and richly textured garments stood in stark contrast to their demeanor. The mood was enhanced by the atmospheric soundscapes of DJ David Katz, whose mixes set the tone for a striking collection.
WÀNGDA’s approach to tailoring was evident in the collection, with structured silhouettes and sharp cuts shaping its foundation. The color palette featured earthy neutrals—taupe, camel, brown, and deep charcoal—tones reminiscent of urban textures, from concrete streets to steel skyscrapers. Subtle patterns and classic plaids added depth and visual interest.
Outerwear played a central role, with cropped wool coats and relaxed, oversized blazers offering a contemporary twist on timeless staples. Deep brown and black leather jackets introduced an edge, while rust-colored hoodies provided a nod to modern streetwear. Overcoats featured oversized lapels, epaulets, and cuffed sleeves, merging heritage craftsmanship with an urban sensibility. Even the classic button-up shirt was reinvented, with bold red-and-white stripes or narrow pinstripes in navy and black disrupting the neutral palette.
This was a collection designed for movement, for evolution, for a city that demands resilience. Every detail—structured shoulder and softened fabric—spoke to the delicate balance between toughness and refinement.
At its core, WÀNGDA’s Autumn/Winter 2025 collection is about survival and transformation. It tells the story of breaking down and rebuilding, a narrative that mirrors the rhythm of New York. In this city, nothing is permanent; people, businesses, and institutions rise, fall, and rise again. Fashion, like life here, is an ever-changing process of reinvention.
“Fashion is a reflection of the self in motion,” Wàngda said. “This collection is about breaking down, reshaping, and ascending—finding the unwavering faith within the struggle and using it to carve a new path forward.”
New York never stops evolving, and neither does WÀNGDA. His Autumn/Winter 2025 collection is a testament to the power of transformation, proving that elegance is not about perfection—it’s about persistence. The tension between exhaustion and ambition, between breaking down and pushing forward, makes this collection so profoundly resonant.
Wàngda’s designs don’t conform to a single identity like the city. They are built for movement, for adaptation, for reinvention. In a city where change is the only constant, WÀNGDA’s latest collection is not just a reflection of New York’s energy—it is an active participant in its ongoing transformation.
Published by Iris S.
