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It is a small boutique situated on Seventh Street at the corner of Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn called AnGG, a label launched in 2008 by 23-year-old Chinese designer Angela Gao. The store is small but cozy, filled with garments of black, white, gray, dark green, and deep brown. AnGG revolves around the concept of ease. Gao uses very few zippers or buttons in her designs. Many of her garments are pullovers. Even if there is a button at the front of the top, one can open it up without having to use the button. “You don’t have to figure out how to put this thing on,” Gao said. “You just pull it over your head and you’re ready.” Gao was wearing a semitransparent black top from the Urban Zen collection, for which she has been collaborating with Donna Karan since 2008. A Parsons graduate, Gao had the opportunity to meet Karan as she interned at Donna Karan Collection. Gao’s senior thesis collection caught Karan’s eye, and Karan invited her to design for Urban Zen, the profits of which are partially donated to charity organizations, a cause Gao fully supports.

As Urban Zen consists of natural fibers and earthy tones, Gao’s own label AnGG shares a similar aesthetic sense. Admitting that she was inspired by Urban Zen, Gao said that ideologically she and Karan both want to create comfort for their customers. “I want people to be able to wear [the clothes] and feel comfort and not have to feel like ‘Oh, I have to suck in my stomach so [it looks flat in] this skirt or this dress or I have to lose 50 pounds so I could look nice,’” Gao said. “Even if you have fat here and there, you’re still fine. You still look confident and comfortable.” Relaxation and free-spiritedness permeate Gao’s designs, which stem from her multicultural roots. Gao moved to New York from Xian, China, when she was 11 years old. The experience as a Chinese immigrant in the United States helps her see the difference between the two cultures. In China, Gao said, there is a certain style that people always dress, whereas in America it’s all about self-expression. “[I] just kind of went on and explored that,” Gao said. “Just being free, and able to wear whatever you want, not to care about what people think and how people perceive you.” She also does martial arts, which she learned from her father, who, in addition to being Gao’s personal kung fu coach, also worked on Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon as a martial arts trainer. The whole experience with martial arts motivated Gao to design clothes that allow people to move freely in fabric. “The [kung fu] uniform has to be cut a certain way so when you do a split or when you do a kick, it won’t rip. So that just influenced me on, ‘Oh, clothing could be free and flowy and when you have a movement it’s great.’ … Because people move, people don’t just stand there like a mannequin.”

Among many of Gao’s muses is architecture. She sees a connection between architecture and fashion, both being three-dimensional art forms. Architect Louis Kahn and his geometric shapes became a significant factor in Gao’s work. “Geometry and mathematics are the foundation of a lot of things in life,” she said. “…We do calculation, too. We have to be like, how long is this, how many inches is that. And then you measure, too.” Just like Kahn manipulated forms and structures to produce light and shadow amid columns and walls, Gao plays off of that distinction between the bright and the dark with fabrics. “The story you want to tell is actually within the clothing. If you have this dress, a style like this, and people see it, people have a feeling, the feeling is the story that I’m trying to portray.” Gao’s first Kahn-inspired body of work was her thesis, now her Timeless Collection, which is composed of muted black, white, and semitransparent black, with nudes as a pop of fresh color. Circular shapes and fluid lines of chiffon and silk emanate elegance and feminine mystique, capturing silhouettes that are soft and resilient.

Just like every other young independent designer, Gao is faced with the trying recession, but she is surprisingly upbeat. “I think because I just started at a really bad time’ I guess I’m too optimistic to realize that I’m being hit really badly,” she said. “If you’re at a good time, and all of a sudden it’s recession, then you’re like, ‘Ouch.‘ I’m starting really low at the bottom. I’m really grateful for what people have been giving me, the feedback that I receive so far, and I think it’s doing well.” To combat the economic hardship, Gao is planning on launching an e-commerce site for her label, angg.com, which will, she hopes, help extend the market for the brand.

Amidst financial gloom, Gao’s next project spring/summer ’10 is under way, and forgiving shapes and loose cuts remain the central idea, which is fundamental to AnGG. But Gao is getting ready to introduce more colors such as pink, coral, turquoise, and light green. “I’m just creating a fresher feeling for the collection, and that’s kind of like aspiring to a better economy,” Gao said. “Springtime you want to see some colors and feel everything is bright again.”

(Photo credit: AnGG by Angela Gao)

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