Two days before my appointment to visit the Lu’u Dan showroom, I spotted founder and designer, Hung La, playing mahjong on rue Saint Martin. His well-known pastime provided a glimpse into the unconventional inspiration behind his latest collection. Later, I began seeing Lu’u Dan campaign posters featuring two portraits from some underworld, setting the stage for the gritty aesthetic to come.
Arriving at the showroom, I was unsurprised to find La outside, this time playing with his models, whom he playfully referred to as “little gangsters”. This interaction served as a prelude for the collection itself, which La introduced with a disclaimer. “We have been on such a positive arc; I wanted a tinge of darkness this season,” he explained. “I felt kind of alone in my struggle and journey. It’s an uphill battle all the time, trying to push something different.” This sentiment resonated throughout the collection, which explored themes of angst, alienation, and the outsider experience.
The collection’s central idea harked back to La’s fashion student days in Antwerp, where he deliberately “dug into something disheveled, a little grimy” by assembling outfits from salvaged and ripped garments. This aesthetic was embodied by his “little gangsters”, one of whom wore nylon wadded “sleeping bag” pants with tearaway snaps over a long track jacket tied with a rubber tube belt. While seemingly covered up, this look alluded to a new strain of fetish seen elsewhere this week.
La’s muses, however, were not without complexity. One was described as “a vagrant, [someone who] loves Asian gore films, he is probably homeless…” This unconventional inspiration might seem jarring, but it’s crucial to remember that La’s vision rests on a strong foundation of respect and representation towards Asian men. This is evident in his signature two-meter jeans that bunch tightly on the leg, a far cry from the typical skinny jeans favoured by the mainstream. “I feel like fashion can be really powerful when it connects with the outsider and that’s what I wanted to touch on,” La explained.
The collection also stood out for its wildly saturated, apocalyptic prints—a combination of hand-drawn and AI imagery that nodded to film posters, animation, street graphics, and more. Spot the tribe of raging goblins! This extreme, music video-esque aesthetic, achieved through the use of nylon, added a layer of visual intensity to the collection. “I think people are playing it safe right now,” La said. “I wanted to dig into creativity.”
After the Yohji show, I stopped by the showroom for the cocktail. La was wearing a varnished leather coat and extra-wide pants, a reflection of his time at Balenciaga and Celine. He looked perfect—and perfectly aligned with the brand’s Instagram bio, “The Sheisty Asian Dude in all of Us” (their words, not mine). “The responsibilities of a creative director and the person, it’s all one—I have to represent the brand, wear the clothes.” This duality, between the designer and the brand, epitomises the gritty yet glamorous spirit of the collection.
Contradictory as it may seem, this grimy angst has woken up a new and exciting side of Lu’u Dan. La’s collection is a testament to his fearless approach to creativity, a willingness to embrace the dark and the unconventional, and a commitment to representing the outsider.
