Who is the Gong Girl? Mark Gong’s Global Muse

The world has heard of Gone Girl. Bond Girl. But how about - Gong Girl? You may find her stutting the Bowery in asymmetrical cropped jackets, masculine-meets-feminine suits, or lacy little black dresses. She bows at the altar of Shanghai-based designer Mark Gong, the rockstar Parsons School of Design alum behind his eponymous label Mark Gong Studio. The youngest designer to debut at New York Fashion Week, Gong spearheaded his own company while in fashion school. His cited influences include Haider Akkerman, Rei Kawakubo, Vivienne Westwood, and Alexander McQueen. Born in China, but raised in California, the young designer is known for dressing the cool girls in his distinct East meets West aesthetic. Think earthy tones and florals inspired by West Coast nature meets the complex drapery and bold cutouts of Shanghainese and New York City uniforms. Popular staples in the Gong Girl closet include embroidered jackets, tailored suits and sensual dresses. On the move, the Gong Girl is international, independent, authentic and rebellious - never in need to impress anyone but herself. She’s busy, so her looks can transform from day to night - think hot, busy intern to chic uptown princess with a twist.

The poster girl for the latter - Charlotte York - is the elegant muse of Gong’s latest Spring/Summer 2025 collection shown at Shanghai Fashion Week. Set in recreation of her Upper East Side Pad, Gong reimagined her classical silhouettes and ladylike sensibility with a deconstructed, darker finish. The garments’ craftsmanship involved intricate tweed and strong forms. The color grey predominates the collection. The pieces are paired with socks and loafer grandma here. The looks are no doubt contemporary. Little bras and sexy skirts push for a fresher, avant garde take on traditional suiting and evening wear.

There is a satirical quality to storytelling at Gong’s shows. While the models in his Fall/Winter show embodied Devil Meets Prada-like interns in messy chic office wear with coffee and badge accessories, his spring collection is a cheeky ode to Sex and the City, paired with a Park Avenue housewife vacuum machine. It’s through the methodology of making runway tongue-in-cheek again, that Gong revitalizes some of the 90s sensibility of vitality and joy in fashion shows. If fashion labels want to dress the youth at high range prices, they should take a note out of Gong’s popular culture book. The spirit of messy freedom and chaotic female energy is what made Sex and the City a hit show and prompted legions of women to strike out of their boxed up lives and live in the city. Season after season, models have fallen into the trap of monstrous seriousity. That is not to say there is not a time and place for that, but because Gong has broken through the monotonous thread of perfection - his collection feels fun, playful, and lived in. Although he pushes the envelope, he sticks to certain basics that are both wearable, yet unique in comparison to the legions of rinse and repeat designs that Soho girls clamour for at Zara.

Despite what they say, maybe women actually want to dress the same as other women. Gong’s collection offers a transition between those who are brazen enough to step out against the trends, and the girls who find solace in the basics. In 2025, is style icon Charlotte York seen as basic? Do too many girls want to emulate her to the point of conformity? Does something being chic on multiple people dilute its chicness because it is worn en masse? Where does the line between trend and timeless wardrobe really ever start and finish? There is something to be said about embracing well made, contemporary basics, if they are more sustainable and the wearer will enjoy them for a long period of time. But fashion always hungers for someone new. The industry thrives off of revolving trend cycles and even conformist attitudes. Gong challenges these perceptions - including societal expectations, the pressure of being good mothers, and personal desire to be feminine and conquer the corporate world. Someone as synonymous with the culture of New York fashion as Charlotte helps Gong create a bridge between those who know his brand and those who are being introduced. By forwarding a relatable, well known metaphor, those who discover him are quick to say - isn’t that the designer who did the Sex and the City runway? And just like that, his consumer base grows. Perhaps all can agree that the best and most recognizable pop culture reference in the collection is the cream colored dress with embroidered hand prints on the derriere - a nod to when Charlotte’s daughter Lily ruins her white Valentino skirt with paint and she almost has a heart attack. Tragic, but we love to laugh at it and spot the easter egg together.

Although it may not have been one of her finest moments, Charlotte York would not be mad to be Gong’s muse. His beautiful fabrics, lush embroideries, finer details, and luxurious taste all align with the Uptown Girl. Celebrities like Blackpink’s Lisa and Liu Yifei (Mulan) and prominent Gong Girls. Lisa wore a tailored Mark Gong suit to the 2025 Oscars, in a move that signaled his rising domination on red carpets and highlights his social media savvy atelier as one to watch. His designs are innovative, and some may say even strangely grotesque or absurd in proportion. He is quick to challenge conventions, both socially and literally - from what being a housewife in designer means to our fetishizations of the office girl. If anything, Gong reclaims those “demeaning” female stereotypes and owns it. His models don’t care about being messy and sexualized, they are empowered by it. The housewives of the runway thrive and strut. Holding a vacuum cleaning in your designer Gong is hot. It’s the clothes quality allure and sartorial lens that captivates Gong’s audience in both Asia and abroad, making him a global powerhouse - who can make clothes fit for the daily requirements of expectations and “reality” and have a laugh at the society that imposes that simultaneously.