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, releasing seasonal capsules of Coats, Hats and Gloves depicting the many mysterious personas of Wong Kar-wai’s movies; mysteriously seductive and disconnected, rich in personal stories.
Roses part 2
There’s a pivotal scene in Wong Kai Wai’s masterpiece, In the Mood for Love, when Chow Mo-wan takes a puff of his cigarette next to slight-shouldered Su Li-Zhen. Set in 1962 Hong Kong, the entire scene is breathtakingly beautiful as it is painfully subdued. There’s not much said, but the tension is real as the characters begin developing strong feelings of love, lust and caution toward each other.
Li-Zhen wears a colorful cheongsam featuring red roses.
Much as Wong Kar-wai’s striking and salient cinema focuses on characters and stories, Scarlet Sage’s collection focuses on the feeling of fashion rather than the ostentatious. It results in an edited selection of 21 looks all black, purple, white and red in faux leather, velvet, mesh, cotton and silk.