Affection Blvd debuts its first ready-to-wear collection, Heartstrings, a celebration of sentiment, style, and self-expression. Germaine Lau reports
On April 10th, Affection Blvd launched its first ready-to-wear collection, Heartstrings—a bold, romantic ode to identity and emotional connection. Founded by Stella Huang in 2024, the slow fashion label may be new to the scene, but its storytelling is already resonating deeply. “Affection is more than a feeling,” Huang shares. “It’s a way of coloring the world and sharing a part of myself.”
The Heartstrings collection sets the tone for the brand’s creative DNA. It weaves together body-hugging silhouettes, open knits, sheer mesh, and flowy silk with asymmetrical cuts and delicate heart-shaped accents across tops, bags, and accessories. “It’s about the main character finding herself in a chaotic yet beautiful and vibrant world,” Huang says. Through details like peekaboo mesh and imperfect proportions, the collection captures a kind of emotional vulnerability—a space where girlhood, sensuality, and nostalgia converge.
The brand’s now-signature heart shape makes several appearances, not just as a logo or motif, but as a design philosophy. “The heart bags represent the beginning for us, as well as the love and affection that we pour into everything we create,” Huang reflects. Originally conceived as playful beach bags, they unexpectedly became bestsellers and a visual shorthand for Affection Blvd’s mission.
That mission, as Huang explains, is rooted in empowerment and individuality. “Our purpose is to encourage fashion as a medium for empowering individuals to feel unique, confident, and truly themselves,” she says. “We strive to be a dependable and responsible brand that adds joy and authenticity to each person’s journey.”
Huang’s road to fashion wasn’t linear. “I did not [start] with any professional background in fashion,” she admits. “I moved to NYC after college with zero experience; however, I was determined to find a job in fashion one way or another.” After landing a role in wholesale at Calvin Klein, she gained firsthand exposure to how a large brand functions—from production to retail. That bird’s-eye view was formative. Still, she dreamed of building something smaller, more personal, and more intentional.
Affection Blvd’s slower, seasonless approach is its quiet rebellion. “The pieces we design are made to stand the test of time,” Huang says. “I envision all my pieces as something a person can cherish and wear year after year.” The brand prioritizes natural and deadstock materials, working with experienced, craft-driven factories that reduce unnecessary waste by minimizing excessive sampling.
While sustainability is integral to Affection Blvd, it’s never at the expense of creativity. Huang’s design process is intuitive and deeply emotional, drawing from music, childhood memories, and the natural world. “Films, music, the colors of nature, and childhood trinkets play a huge part in my creative process,” she says. The aesthetic, she adds, “is a union of feminine and cool, sexy and sweet, hard and soft.”
For Heartstrings, Huang was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, a film that held deep emotional resonance as she came of age. “As I grew older and went through my journey of self-discovery, I began to understand why I felt so sentimentally attached to this movie,” she says. “Many elements in this collection are inspired by the vibrant scenes and unique characters depicted in the film.”
The result is a debut that feels more like a memoir than a collection. There’s funkiness in the asymmetry, intimacy in the mesh—“like a peekaboo with your skin: can you see it, or can you not?” Huang laughs. It’s this emotional layering that elevates Affection Blvd beyond aesthetics and into something more enduring.
Looking ahead, Huang hopes to expand her brand into a community-driven platform. “We hope to foster a more collaborative and inclusive fashion industry—one where creatives from diverse backgrounds and disciplines have the opportunity to share their talents,” she says. “In five years, I hope our pieces will bring people excitement or just make them feel like the world is a wonderful place.”
For now, Heartstrings is exactly that: a gentle but powerful tug at the parts of us that long to be seen, to play, to feel. And in the hands of Stella Huang, affection is not just a mood—it’s a movement.
