Motoguo, the Malaysian designer brand founded by Moto Guo and Kinder Eng almost 10 years ago, is making its Shanghai Fashion Week comeback after a two-year hiatus, offering wit and humor to cheer on the market in flux.
Inspired by the indie film “Little Miss Sunshine” and titled “Coming Soon,” the fall 2026 collection is a coming-of-age story with nostalgic yet campy designs that the brand characterized as “refined maximalism.”
“The theme captures a fluid state, of constantly becoming. It’s also a gentle whisper, saying ‘hi, here we are,’” said Guo.
With the founders based in Kuala Lumpur during the COVID-19 pandemic and most of its manufacturing in Shenzhen, the brand was put on hold when China closed its borders.
For Eng, the drive to communicate positivity is what drew the founders back to an uncertain market— though that optimism is deliberately layered over a more nuanced core.
Moto Guo, wearing hat, and Kinder Eng, cofounders and creative directors of Motoguo.
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“We use the positivity to cover up the sadness inside — it’s a special kind of sadness, of being broke when you splurge your life’s savings on a really expensive car,” said Eng of the the brand’s undercurrent of hedonistic rebellion.
For Zemira Xu, cofounder of Tube Showroom, which Motoguo has been working with since its inception, the brand’s ideal world has evolved, but the brand still reflects a clear consumer profile — clients with an interest in the art and design world.
“There are things they will never let go, including fun, humor, and vintage aesthetics, but it has dialed back the intensity in face of an economic downturn,” said Xu.
A harsher business environment also prompted the brand to take a different retail approach.
During this year’s Chinese New Year in February, Motoguo rolled out two pop-ups, one in Shanghai, one in Kuala Lumpur. “Initially we were planning to simultaneously launch in Japan or South Korea, but logistically, they needed more time to work on these kinds of collaborations,” Guo said.
“It’s also meant to be a ‘teaser’ for our main collection,” explained Guo. The collection, ranging from $20 for a graphic tote bag to a $130 track jacket, is meant to evolve into a fully formed diffusion line next season.
Pieces from Motoguo’s Chinese New Year teaser collection.
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Making the mundane feel playful was a key thread running through the capsule collection, realized in collaboration with the Shenzhen-based graphic artist Oliwa Biu, whose dreamy, pastel-toned comics often carry a subtly subversive edge.
Visual cues from Biu’s illustrations were translated into flirtatious design details — a pair of boxer shorts features a baby-blue horn peeking out at the crotch, with its twirly tail at the back, while a similar mythical horn emerges from the zipper of a track jacket. The motif can be traced back to a painting in Eng’s mother’s bedroom — a fantasy unicorn princess illustration by Robin Koni.
The inspiration for Biu’s illustration for Motoguo’s fall 2026 collection.
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Biu also created the visual identity for Motoguo’s fall 2026 collection.
“Head out into the world of Motoguo, have faith in what will be,” read the slogan that accompanied an illustration of an androgynous figure in a messy room, watched over by winged eyeballs.
“Life might look shabby for now, but if you have faith in yourself, you can morph into the pegasus, and new windows of opportunity will automatically open,” Eng explained of the visual.
During the fall 2026 edition of Shanghai Fashion Week, the brand won’t be hitting the runways, but will set up a visually captivating showroom for its professional guests, including buyers and influencers, at Tube Showroom. The brand is also a finalist for the inaugural New Wave Fashion Awards, which will unveil its winner on March 30.
Coinciding with the rise of AI, the timely comeback of Motoguo meant the company could start anew not only creatively, but also organizationally.
Starting anew, the company developed a new management system with Notion, the customizable AI workspace.
“I see Notion as a belief system, it takes time to get used to it, but I’ve managed to reroute my mind, my MBTI went from INFP to INFJ,” said Eng of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, a legacy personality survey popular among Gen Z Chinese.
“It’s become our second brain, it eliminates communication friction, it’s great at creating a database for all our meetings, it will learn to manage our DTC account, it’s also learning how to archive all our past inspirations — as detailed as possible,” added Eng.
Tech jargons aside, Guo believes that the reset will help the brand home in on what really matters. “Fashion is about providing ’emotional support,’” said Guo, speaking of a trendy topic for the pop psychology-obsessed Chinese netizens. “If you wake up one morning, and you sense something wrong with your mood, you should wear our clothes; it might give you that mental pick-me-up, it might be a conversation starter with strangers, it’s going to lighten up your day,” said Eng.