Grace Gui’s Whimsical Fantasy
The Brooklyn-based farm-to-fashion knitwear label debuted its dreamy Fall/Winter ‘25 collection this past weekend.
Image Courtesy of Grace Gui and Anthony Brooks Consulting
Step into Grace Gui’s Fall/Winter ‘25 collection presentation, Will You Carry Your Inheritance Forward?, and immediately become entranced. The soft, whimsical soundtrack guides you through the beautiful staging, which was created with as much intentionality as the clothing draped on each model.
As you navigate the room, you see generations of individuals: grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and daughters, all moving delicately in their respective spaces. Each intricate look is accompanied by a sign describing where every element and material comes from, as sourcing and materiality make emerging label Grace Gui stand out against most brands today.
Grace Gui is a Brooklyn farm-to-fashion based knitwear label, by Grace Wang, combining the Americana influences in her life with the resurgence of love for herself and Chinese background. Wang solely sources independent female farmers and artisans, along with raising her own silkworms and Angora rabbit in her Bushwick studio. All items are knit and/or felted by hand, making each piece truly one of a kind.
The delicate precision and care required to make each garment stand out clearly in each look. Although every top, bottom, dress, and accessory is vastly different, the collection as a whole has a strong cohesion.
Grace Gui Fall/Winter 2025 captures the emotional complexity of generational matriarchy, the burden of cultural expectations, and the silent struggle of asking for help within Asian American family dynamics. It also hints at the shared responsibility and strength of family across generations, inviting reflection on how these relationships can evolve.
The collection itself is a dual narrative that fuses the complexities of multicultural heritage with the weight of sociological responsibility. Each garment is a vessel, steeped in the wisdom of Eastern traditions—some upheld, some shed—and Western influences—some resisted, some embraced—woven through generations of familial dialogue and evolution.
Simultaneously, Gui redefines sustainability– establishing an uncompromising standard with generationally hand-raised silk cocoons and sourcing from small, community-driven, female-owned farms and businesses. She utilizes natural dyes and 3D printing with cornstarch/sugarcane, alongside her devotion to a zero-waste production model. Will You Carry Your Inheritance Forward? stands in stark contrast to an industry that too often hides behind convenience, offering minimal transparency and designing with indifferent regard for the future.
Image Courtesy of Grace Gui and Anthony Brooks Consulting
Each garment features hand-dyed, rich tones, with each color flowing seamlessly into the next. Many delicate pieces are adorned with felted flower motifs, petals, and organic shapes, drawing a strong connection to nature, where these materials were sourced. While each garment was special, the teardrop knit handbags enclosed by metal leaves were the star of the show.
Pearl buttons and drop stitches are used for many of the closures and attachments on these garments, and you feel a sense of interconnectedness when viewing the collection. Models of all ages staged across the room giggle, play and laugh with each other, rooting the familial legacies that inspired Wang’s work. Accompanied by an emotional short film, it’s clear to see how close this collection is to the designer’s heart.
With our world in a state of rapid environmental decline, brands contributing to overconsumption and mass waste can take a page out of Grace Gui’s book. It’s extremely rare to find labels that can trace every step of their sourcing process, down to the insects and animals that produce their materials in its rawest form. Each garment breathes intentionality, love, and compassion for the earth and the laborers who make the collection possible. Grace Gui Fall/Winter 2025 is knitwear without compromise—designed for the future.
