Diesel collaborates with Chris Lee, Chinese singer and fashion darling, in a celebration of imperfection

Italian brand Diesel has developed an unconventional, rock ’n’ roll attitude during its 39-year history, and its latest campaign and celebrity design collaboration follows this ethos.

Diesel’s autumn/winter 2017 collections and ad campaign are all about embracing imperfection. The campaign “Go With The Flaw”was in Beijing on September 6 to launch a collaboration between Diesel and Chris Lee (Li Yuchun), who won the Super Girl reality TV singing competition in China in 2005, and has since become a favourite of fashion powerhouses – including Jean Paul Gaultier, Gucci and Karl Lagerfeld.

Lee’s risk-taking and androgynous style appealed to Nicola Formichetti, who has worked with Lady Gaga as a stylist and has been at the creative helm of Diesel since 2013. Each piece in the collaborative collection – including baseball caps, T-shirts, hoodies, jeans and denim jackets – is unisex.

“It’s the perfect fit. Diesel is ultimately the unconventional brand, always fighting conformity in terms of design, attitude and communication. So when we met Chris Lee it felt natural to collaborate and create this amazing capsule collection, based on the idea that perfection is boring so we should celebrate imperfection,” says Formichetti.

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Lee also took the opportunity during the brand’s Beijing event to poke fun at the pronounced square shape of her face, an “imperfection” in a country where gua zi lian, or melon seed (oval) faces are the ideal.