The duo, Gale C. and Rachel C. have started their haute couture, Gh Luxury Lingerie, since 2017. They are dedicated to combining the Eastern and the Western fashion together. And what makes their design different from other brands is that you don’t see them just as Asian style because they intriguingly apply the oriental textures to western modern silhouettes. But some looks are not exactly western looks. They break down the old, traditional oriental clothing such as cheongsam or royal attires further into specific design elements, so that they can have more flexibility to assemble these fascinating details and make them fashion and modern again. They gently blend and modify the traditional Eastern fashion ideas with Western modern patterns. And thus, it adds subtle, fabulous layers to their oriental designs and the way they layer the sheer fabrics reinforce the vertical lines in delicate, luxury fabrics and flowing lines. It brings us the more novel and original notion of practical wear as a way of bringing both of these views, daily wear and high-end fashion together.
It just makes it unique as it is.
The 7th collection is named ‘Peeking Through Fingers’ to remember a time we were suffering in the past year, 2020. “ Peeking through fingers is to describe a feeling that we are like stuck inside of our home because of this unknown storm. And you want to see what is going on outside but you don’t dare to see it. So all you can do is to peek things through your fingers or bury your face into palms so that you can’t see things too clearly. In this way, when different shades of light goes through your fingers and comes into view, all things we can see become like a kaleidoscope. And this is why we attempt to use bright and bold colours in this collection. Because it has been a long wait and suffering. We are not ready to look back all these things and we are still experiencing. ” Rachel said. Perhaps, what is not mentioned under this collection is about patiently waiting for hope. After experiencing all these things, this also allows us to rethink what people really need from fashion and our lives.
This collection is called Black Pearl. Because it symbolizes purity and integrity. Therefore, most of outfits in this collection are black. And when you look into the designs, there are a lot of fabulous details like golden embroidery, appliqué sequins…and so on. We try to deconstruct the patterns and play with geometric patterns, hollow-out design, asymmetric shapes, A-line silhouette in this collection and these factors helps us to create cohesion.
In “Redefinition of Lingerie” collection, Gh aimed to emphasis the Concept of ‘Lingerie is nothing related to accessory anymore’. This collection demonstrated a distinct design from traditional lingerie industry; For a long time, lingerie is defined as intimate apparels, such as underwear and nightclothes. Yet, in this collection, Gh not only redefined lingerie but also presented it as elegant outfits in order to change people’s perspectives about lingerie.
Blooming Summer collection, Gh designers wanted to try some new different things. They found a new face French girl as their muse model and they picked up her personal traits, style and life background as their inspiration. When the first time they saw her, her light brown vigorous eyes made them think of fairies in the forest. Therefore, they took the countryside elements from lavender fields in French Provence, medieval historical architecture shapes and some rural floral patterns. The tone of ‘Blooming Summer’ is softer, lighter and reveals romantic feelings in some designs like ‘Canterbury Bell’ and ‘Champagne Gold Hollow out Set.’ Especially, in this collection, they created a breakthrough design. There was a special one-side hook and eye closure at the front of panty (see Pure white & Blue floral lingerie). Meanwhile, they also tried to use butterfly pea flower as a dye agent to make sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics. By boiling fabric with butterfly pea flower, the fabric turned out natural lavender purple.
The colors and texture of fabrics in Oriental Atmosphere (the 3rd collection) are darker and heavier than the previous collections. For example. they used some fabrics like rich purple decorated with golden flower texture, scarlet red velvet, or even burgundy red fabric carved with floral patterns on the surface. Gh designers took the inspiration from Eastern style and Chinese traditional carved wooden floral window. They created a strong oriental ambiance by combining handcraft and Eastern style pattern. For the design part, Gale and Rachel designed more suspenders, corset fastenings and balcony bras to show the various lingerie selections.
If you look at each of Gh collections, it might not be hard to find out that each collection combines some small sections of designs with slightly different styles or colours. For example, in the first collection -‘Fresh’, there are more wireless bras and bralette designs. But when it comes to the second collection -‘Back to Classic’, the colors go from light to dark and also there are some more strong and complicated line designs on the lingerie. As a designer and also a creative director, Rachel considers that making good transitions is really important to connect this collection to other collections. This is why they (Gh designers) feel like they are telling a story in each collection. This collection starts with a series of pure white lingerie designs from different floral textures of white lace and silver white to cream-white. Later on, there are more bold and heavier colors like purple, emerald and black with strappy bra design. In this collection, Gh designers combine some delicate flower appliqués and beautiful trim braids as decoration. Thus, it demonstrates a rich and diverse selection of lingerie.
Before Gale and Rachel started their lingerie brand, they took a lot of time observing people on the street, coffee shops or any public areas. One day when they were at the coffee shop, they wanted to know whether it would be possible to find their muse model. So they asked a girl sitting at the next table. They wanted to do something different apart from the other existing lingerie brands – finding a fresh look instead of a professional lingerie model to join their first collection photoshoot. Because they wanted to find out how ordinary people felt about themselves in front of the camera. They didn’t want an international standard model size but someone who had her own individual and unique beauty. By using fresh face models, they hoped that the collection could deliver some positive messages about body image toward viewers - confidence. This is the reason why this collection is called “Fresh”. Clean shape, bright colours, and a sense of freedom are the main elements in the first collection. This is also why they have wireless bras or bralettes . Moreover, they also tried out an experimental idea like edible lollipop panty for another brand line as fashion lab. Wearers have to assemble lollipop and panty together so as to complete the design. Creativity and the way of thinking outside of the box are what they want to bring into the new phase of lingerie in the 21 century.