Lu’u Dan Fall 2023 Menswear Collection
Halfway via a showroom walkthrough with Hung La, he holds up a pair of denims from one of many racks. They’re visibly outsized with panels on both sides that fold over and snap into place. As soon as unsnapped, the denim garment all of the sudden turns into a humongous sq.; one wiry male mannequin might seemingly slip into every leg.
That the denims are extensive to the intense is exactly the purpose. As La tells it, the Lu’u Dan man is something however common. He’s assertive, defiant, nonconformist. He embodies underrepresented notions of Asian masculinity. And what he wears—whether or not a ‘Chicano flannel’ whole look or a tarp deftly transformed right into a parka—turns into a approach to transmit the toughness he needs to challenge into the world.
Placing the pause on his Kwaidan Editions, Ha is now 4 seasons into Lu’u Dan, an exploration of Asian subcultures that converges bespoke methods with road fashion. The place the earlier assortment proposed numerous villain archetypes, this one is a extra centered translation of Bōsōzoku motorbike gangs, and particularly the Black Emperor gang that discovered aesthetic inspiration in punk rock via the ’70s (and was documented within the movie Godspeed You! Black Emperor by Mitsuo Yanagimachi).
“It’s not simply Asian, in fact; we’re simply searching for that authenticity,” says Ha, who’s first-generation Vietnamese-American and based mostly in London. As he speaks of “floating origins” and the fluidity of cultural actions, a mannequin emerges in a purple and black motorbike jacket (the leather-based, so supple!) and ample purple jersey joggers with lantern legs. Whereas there are whole seems all through the lineup, it’s clear that items could be switched up and worn in a number of variations. Largely these are elevated, on a regular basis matches with a shady vibe. However there are extra occasional items, too; see the full-length fake leather-based tunic precision laser minimize with a sample of slits as if it had been some sort of samurai ceremonial piece.
Ha occurs to be a wonderful Mannequin Zero for the road, which is primarily DTC however can also be carried by a handful of shops equivalent to SSENSE and H. Lorenzo. A current Instagram submit reveals him in 4 seems together with a tailor-made ensemble by which the jacket is “disturbed” with elastic ribbons. Up shut, the piece reveals appreciable workmanship, but he’s retaining the positioning accessible. The large information is that the gathering is being supplied in ladies’s sizes for the primary time, a intelligent evolution that ostensibly expands the model’s personal id. Individually, Lu’u interprets to pomegranate and Dan interprets to bullet. Mixed, they change into hand grenade or harmful man. Now, ladies can costume to really feel harmful, too.
