Scarlet Sage is a fashion label deeply rooted in Hong Kong-ese cinema and its intense visualization of personal dramas. The creative director, Huizhe, was born in China at the tail of the Second Wave, the movement in Chinese-language cinema that emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but its impact on her childhood visual memories lives strong.
A generation of women was stylistically very affected by the way the Second Wave movie characters dressed – where the traditional qipao is frequently seen mixed with western style staples. Suits, wide shoulder jackets, coats and sunglasses became commonplace by people imitating how the characters dressed in the films.
Each frame in Wong Kar-wai films was beautiful in the way only movies shot by film could be; the texture and colors were unique and real; it captured rare moments. Scarlet Sage emulates urban stories with collections depicting the many mysterious personas of Wong Kar-wai’s movies; mysteriously seductive and disconnected, rich in personal stories.
Great artists such as Marsden Hartley, Jamie Wyeth or Wolfe Kahn built impressive bodies of work inspirited by Maine’s contrasting and vivid colors. Teddy grew into adulthood with a special appreciation for Kahn; the combination of realism and color field resonates with Teddy’s own codes. Khan works cover the subject of landscapes and his own personal vision of nature; his convergence of light and color has been described as combining "pictorial landscapes and painterly abstraction". Teddy’s work hones on redefining the modern American man through his own personal codes of classic Americana.
Key pieces include a relaxed suit in traditional Black Stewart with matching shirt and wool bomber. Icons are animated in rich tones of cobalt including a Melton peacoat and coordinating single breasted suit and elevated with supple leathers and suedes pieces including chore coats, fringe jackets and blazers.
The Maine inspiration re-enforces the brand’s already strong knitwear game with Nordic yoke sweaters in winter whites, oversized black and white fair isles and Teddy’s take on traditional Maine fisherman cabled sweaters in rich cashmeres with signature tones of cobalt and charcoal.
When styled and shot the collection nods to punk and the “buffalo movement” from the 90’s, circling back to Teddy’s immutable formula: American classics that capture modern American life; equally influenced by East and West Coast with strong synergies to European discernment.
