London Fashion Week: Ryan Lo and 5 other Chinese designers who have wowed the crowd
Strong thread of romantic femininity is evident with light fabrics, ruffles, laces and embroidery
Chinese fashion designers have enjoyed a close bond with London’s fashion scene since long before the British Fashion Council revealed its three-year partnership with Chinese retailer JD.com last week. Many of the designers who now show at the Shanghai and London fashion weeks graduated in the UK.
A strong thread of romantic femininity runs through the design aesthetic of many Chinese designers on London catwalks, through their use of light fabrics, of ruffles, laces and embroidery.
Ryan Lo
The best presentation was Hong Kong-born Ryan Lo’s dreamy and romantic collection. Sweetness and femininity are in Lo’s DNA: his collection was a progression on the narrative from last season when the knight in shining armour walked down the aisle with his princess.
In the 2019 rendition, the couple were pushing a baby in a pram as the era moved on a few centuries with Victoriana ribbon-bodice dresses worn with scallop hemmed coats, gloves and exaggerated feathery earmuffs and bearskin hats. And the prince was in a hussar uniform.
Rather more contemporary however were Lo’s lurex sweatpants and hoodies – lurex, shimmer and sparkle being a major for autumn – in a saccharine palette of sugar almond colours.
Doris Kath Chan