“I LOVE ME”

Now, that’s what we call Ryan LO! 

“It is simply about what I love to do!” What does LO LOVE?

Tactile knitted tulle worked into A-line princess frocks that reveal and conceal in equal measure. 

Returning to presentation format, Ryan LO shows a one-off special edition collection of his greatest hits in David Shrigley’s powder puff pink gallery restaurant at Sketch Cafe. It’s a celebration of Ryan LO’s signatures, accumulated over time. 

Lace made up into chevron striped candy floss nightgowns that trail the floor. Jacquard woven with silver butterflies or glittering in rainbow stripes shimmer like a manga cartoon character’s wide-eyed stare on trench coats and puff-sleeved Victoriana dresses. 

Hand-made flower embellishments are scattered like used corsages and anchored with beading on LO’s wardrobe cornerstones of pussy bow blouses and Little Black Dresses. Black and white dominate with a smattering of pastel shades. 

The hand and the machine, and the natural and the synthetic come together to create a magical alchemy. 

LO’s make-believe world encompasses all of the following. Vamping as a French maid, foxtrotting as a flapper, doing decadence like Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, kung fu kicking in Chinatown and livin’ it up like Princess Margaret. She’s some of those things and all of those things depending on her mood. West’s elegance meets East’s kawaii. Continuing an ongoing collaboration with milliner Stephen Jones, Yayoi Kusama-inspired pumpkin berets sit atop the head in a glitter candy palette. Leaving the house without a hat was once considered scandalous after all. Ditto with the lace opera-length gloves that hark back to Victorian etiquette. LO’s rose-tinted vision of the past is as always filtered through an idealised prism. 

Viva Ryan LO, we say! “Not a girl, not yet a woman." 

Words by Susie Lau @ Susie Bubble

Styling: Victoria Young/ Makeup: Isamaya Ffrench/ Hair: Sam McKnight/ Nails: Marian Newman/ Casting: Madeleine Ostlie AAMO/ Set Designer: Miguel Bento/ Millinery: Stephen Jones/ Footwear: Repetto/ Venue: Sketch Cafe