The start of a passion career
The core mission of Studio Sachh is led by the passion of its designer and founder Stephanie Yu-Hsuan Chen. At the beginning, the label went through different stages of experimentation before becoming what she likes to call a “Luxury Ready-To-Wear” brand made by women for women. The essence of Stephanie’s creations are the result of thoughtful research aiming to understand and answer their needs. Studio Sachh, is first and foremost a label catering to those seeking to feel comfortable but at the same time powerful. It is about “understanding their mind, wants, and needs in high quality clothing”, Stephanie explains.
Her strong commitment to fashion was developed while she was studying at the Pratt Institute. For years she worked on her “technical skills in the best environment with some of the most aspiring industry professionals.” Nevertheless, after graduating, she felt that she needed to learn even more about the fashion industry and design process. Stephanie went on to study MFA Fashion Design at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New-York. At that time, she was able to learn important lessons that stay with her even today. The mistakes she made allowed her to experiment and drove her to unexpected designs. Above all, she learned that “fashion is not glamorous as it might look on the runway, it is certainly not an easy career to pursue, you have to be extremely resilient, and have a general passion knowing your ultimate goal is to stay long term in this industry,” she claims.
Stephanie knows that with her label Studio Sachh will always evolve and change, however it will keep “carrying its original identity and value of showcasing feminine strength through comfortable and high quality clothing.” More than understanding women’s needs, her goal is to collect as much information as she can to understand their future demands and values. Stephanie is a designer devoted to her audience and her label’s mission.
Flanelle: Freshly graduated, you recently introduced your label Studio SACHH. Could you explain your vision for the brand?
Stephanie: Studio SACHH went through a lot of different names and rebranding process throughout the last few years. It went from feminine high fashion sportswear, to now more fluid and would be categorized as Luxury Ready-To-Wear, my vision for where studio SACHH’s current status is to see a possibility of expansion in different categories, carrying the same message for women – design by women, and designed for women by understanding their needs and wants in pieces they would like to exist long term with a purpose in their closets.
You studied at Pratt Institute before doing your master’s at Fashion Institute of Technology – finishing this year. What did those years of learning fashion design taught you?
Having spent 4 years at Pratt Institute, I had the luxury of time to establish my technical skills in the best environment with some of the most aspiring industry professionals. My senior year at Pratt was the only year when I got to absorb everything I knew and project them onto my then thesis collection of 10 looks, “Body In Motion”. When I graduated, I felt like there was something missing, and I knew I still had the desire to explore who I am as a designer.
I also wanted to learn more outside of fashion design. The time when I was studying at Fashion Institute of Technology MFA Fashion Design has allowed me to dive in and learn to ‘let go’ and ‘make mistakes’, Sometimes the greatest, most unexpected design happens within making mistakes. And most importantly, fashion is not glamorous as it might look on the runway, it is certainly not an easy career to pursue, you have to be extremely resilient, and have a general passion knowing your ultimate goal is to stay long term in this industry.
“Elegant with vulnerability and strength” is how you describe your label. Could you explain this statement further?
“Elegant with vulnerability and strength” is a statement not only applies on the design aesthetics of my collections from my perspective, the fabrication choice of how vulnerable and fragile these delicate fabrics are, yet how it reflects and flows on the body with simple, straightforward cuts.
The statement can also can be applied to the woman who wears and how they feel in my pieces. Making women feel comfortable in what they are wearing, understanding their mind, wants, and needs in high quality clothing – without overexposing their bodies, but at the same time giving them power reflecting through clothing is the purpose of my design statement.
One of the best feeling of being a designer is to hear feedbacks from their wearers – quoting one of my models, Liliana Bogart, she said “They are beautiful and sophisticated but strong and sexy too, it’s everything I wanted to feel when I get dressed.”
Your most recent collections are New Halston (for Resort 2023) and For Her (for Spring Summer 2023). How do you start every collection? What is your process?
I was always less of a story-teller and more of a hands-on person when it comes to collection development. For Resort 2023, “New Halston”, it was an exploration project of my time in FIT, given by the course called Design Archaeology, which I was given the opportunity to choose Halston as a brand to study and develop my own perspective into design the design house’s past, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that has been left behind by the previous designers. The study of Halston design philosophy really helped elevate my own development process, which led onto my major collection development for next season in Spring/Summer 2023, “For Her”. I worked with photography and light to start off my initial approach to silhouette development by projected shapes through spotlight onto a female body.
There are countless prototypes I’ve done for each look, there was a lot of playing around on patterns and live-model fitting with curves, and shapes during my process, deciding placement of different weights of fabrics. I never sketch first, I have to work in 3D in order to visually help myself working on one single look in a 360 way.
Finally, creating colorways of choice is the most important part of my final process, I will have to sit in front of a number of colorways and play around with different swatch combinations of colors. For technique, by experimenting details such as these styled fabric stripes intersecting through the body, the revealing part is a statement of her bold, and sophisticated side. The collection in consist of generating the idea of creating harmony in technique while the women who are wearing these looks feel comfortable, but powerful.
When it comes to fabrics and materials, how do you select them according to the collection you are working on?
I used a lot of silk-based fabrics, crepe back satin, silk organza, silk charmeuse, silk twill… The reason behind using these fabrics was to show craftsmanship and the attentive work behind each elegant, intricate look. Resonating the sophisticated woman wearing it with strength and vulnerability, and how the products were also made by people behind the scene in a very delicate, careful way.
Your last collection, For Her is designed for a character that you described as “Soft and delicate on the outside. On the inside, she holds passion, and is strong and untouchable. A sophisticated warrior.” What led you to design this Spring /Summer Collection?
The main inspiration later on developed alongside with really looking back into my design manifesto of “Soft and delicate on the outside. On the inside she holds passion, strong and untouchable. A sophisticated warrior.” Executed by delicate luxury fabric, each look was given a name, and reason of being for the look’s personality, to express the fluid and feminine line I would always circle back to during my design process. Each look has its bold, sophisticated and powerful edge contracting to delicate and softness.
Now that you have your master, what are your plans for SACHH Studio?
I think studio SACHH would prefer to start small and slowly take orders through time, it is extremely easy for anyone to get exposure nowadays through social media, therefore it also makes a brand harder to stand out with the goal of accomplishing people’s needs. That is something I will learn through time by working for high end luxury brands in New York City, and absorb information of how they take turns in business under the impact after the pandemic.
Studio SACHH will always keep evolving by carrying its original identity and value of showcasing feminine strength through comfortable and high quality clothing.
Designer: Stephanie YuHsuan Chen // Studio Sachh
Photography: Taylor Reyes
Model: Lauren Weeks
Agency: Bicoastal Management
Stylist: Johanna Luisa Minella
Hair Stylist: Chika Yokoyama
Makeup Artist: Yuka Ito
Assistant to photographer: Mitchell Wang
Text by Koura-Rosy Kane