September 17, 2016 |
There is, as Carrie Bradshaw once said, nothing scarier than a clown. But, then again, she had presumably yet to encounter Ryan Lo’s clowns, presented as part of his SS17 show yesterday. Because these clowns weren’t scary at all, much down to the fact that Hong Kong-born designer Ryan Lo is a very talented young designer and the inspiration wasn’t a creepy children’s entertainer but Venetian harlequins and court jesters. Which mean big sparkly bodysuits, plenty of frou-frou and a selection of very nice hats, designed by none other than Mr Stephen Jones. See, not scary all. There was a veritable cornucopia of other inspiration points besides – Mr Lo is nothing if not eclectic – think Arabian nights meets China (Lo cited Cantonese videos he watched in childhood) meets the Pirates of Penzance meets Japanese Manga. Finished off with coloured locks and a slashing of silent movie-star makeup. Because why the hell not? It was fabulous. And proved, once and for all, that London is still the home of all out fashion madness. Long may it reign.
