For SS17, Ryan LO travels to exotic locales through the prism of his Hong Kong upbringing. It’s a Middle Eastern hotchpotch seen in the animes and Cantonese music videos of his youth, filled with magic carpets, snake charmers and bejewelled turbans. It’s a deliberate cacophony of cultures and countries – Turkey, Egypt, India – candy coated and sugar dusted beyond recognition.
Foreign types with the hookah pipes say
Ay oh whey oh, ay oh whey oh
Walk like an Egyptian
LO’s intrepid traveller momentarily ditches her girliness and embraces the oversized harem trouser pilfered from Venetian clowns and 18th century Ottoman Empire attire. Those volumes are matched by LO’s signature ruffled and tiered dresses in a scalloped peacock lace and floral jacquard. Metallic pleated lurex is yet another jewel in this reimagining of Ali Baba’s cave. Floral jacquard coats come frayed at the edges like well-used magic carpets. A kawaii character resembling Japanese childhood heroine Chibi Maruko Chan pops out of a genie and rides an elephant across vibrant prints this season.
Stephen Jones collaborates with Ryan LO for the first time, creating marabou trimmed tricorn hats that are part New Romantics, part Victorian pirate as well as an Indian Raj-inspired bejewelled headband in LO’s signature candy hues.
Come traverse this anime desert. She’s a genie in a bottle. You’ve got to rub her the right way.
