Samuel Yang & Erik Litzén

Samuel Yang and Erik Litzén are the co-founders and creative partners behind fashion label Samuel Guì Yang. Together, they have developed a design language that draws on traditional Chinese dress codes, recasting ‘Made in China’ for a cosmopolitan audience.

Born and raised in Guangdong, China, and Stockholm, Sweden, respectively, Yang and Litzén met while studying on the MA Fashion programme at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2015. Yang founded the namesake studio in London that same year. Litzén joined in 2017 as creative partner, bringing technical menswear and product development experience gained from earlier design stints at Acne Studios and JW Anderson.

After showing their first runway collection at Shanghai Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2020 with support from local incubator Labelhood, the duo gained international recognition as semi-finalists for the 2020 LVMH Prize.

Now working between London and Shanghai, Yang and Litzén have established Samuel Guì Yang as a fixture at Shanghai Fashion Week and, by 2026, had secured prestigious stockists including Lane Crawford, Machine-A and Labelhood. Their pragmatic yet directional approach — reinterpreting silhouettes like the qipao with fluid tailoring and sharp construction to show Chinese design through a nuanced lens — has earned them a loyal following among actors and models such as Liu Wen, Fan Bingbing and He Sui.