admin The New York working woman has been endlessly mythologized. Tess McGill and her shoulder pads epitomized the ’80s working girl, and Andy Sachs—sorry, Andrea—won over Miranda Priestly one good outfit at a time. But there’s no one like Samantha Jones, the endlessly memeable Sex & the City “public relations executive, unmarried woman” that power-walked onto our screens in 1998 and never left our hearts. Kim Catrall’s Jones served as Mark Gong’s muse this spring. “Seeing Samantha Jones when I was a teenager just inspired me,” he said at a preview. “My admiration for women that are successful and self-reliant, who live their lives without apologizing, started with her, together with the dream of New York.”
Gong, who is based in Shanghai but launched his brand in New York City as a Parsons graduate in 2018, is familiar with this particular character. He staged his show in an office—gray wall-to-wall carpet and venetian blinds included—and had each model scan a badge through a set of speed gates. His woman is assertive, not to be messed with, and ready for business. Her uniform is a fitted pencil skirt, a well-tailored jacket worn over the shoulders, and a tank top or tight fitting button-down and cardigan combo.
To his credit, what Gong borrowed from Jones was less about her wardrobe than it was her ethos. This woman is sex positive, as proven by garters, stockings, panties, and a couple of alluring chiffon skirts. She is grown-up, as evidenced by her razor-sharp tailoring, deftly cut in sleek leather, wool, tweed—a designer favorite this week—and a fantastic red micro sequin fabric. And she is the boss, or dresses to look like it; even her basic cargo pants and distressed jeans are covered in sequins or hand-beaded crystal strands. Gong is 10 seasons in now, and Jones made a worthwhile muse. She helped him elevate his collection just enough, and provided an air of polish he should hold on to without doing away with his sense of humor.
As a nod to Jones’s pal Carrie Bradshaw, Gong cut a mean “naked dress” in a flocked floral georgette doubled for extra opacity. He didn’t get carried away with the SATC of it all here, but he did mold his signature 3D chrome sculptures to appear as scarves swept away by a city breeze. Gong didn’t need them in this lineup, though it’s easy to see why he included them. The first iteration went viral last season, and another was recently worn in a magazine by Olivia Rodrigo.
But as I sat there watching these fabulous-looking models enact a fantasy of the New York working woman, I had to wonder: Is the idea of the working girl uniform like the proverbial tree in the forest? Is it necessary in a world of remote work? In a city like New York where everyone is working but not everyone has a job, is the idea of an office uniform simply old-fashioned? Not for the Gong girl, and not for Gong—his proposal is compelling for its commitment to cool.
