October 3, 2024 |
There’s a heroic quality to Dion Lee’s designs. Sculpted, skin-baring and laced with potent sensuality, his clothes look as if they were built directly for the body that inhabits them. His razor-sharp tailoring, second-skin bodysuits and genderless utilitarian garb have propelled him from the boy wonder of Australian fashion to a powerhouse in his own right, worn by a loyal clientele across the world.
It’s the first glimpse of New York’s spring I see when Lee calls me on Zoom from his bright studio on the Lower East Side. He’s still on a comedown from his AW24 show, staged on the 100th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center, an architectural behemoth that towers over the Pudong district. “The whole experience was very surreal,” says Lee, 38, who had never been to China before. The brand had been looking to explore a major opportunity in the region since before Covid.
“It was a decision to give myself a break from the New York calendar and create space for an audience since I’ve been building organically from Australia,” says the designer, explaining that some of the brand’s earliest wholesalers were based in China. Landing in Shanghai just three days ahead of the show, Lee says the experience was “inspiring and challenging at the same time”, given that he worked with a micro team to pull off the sky-high, mammoth operation. “And I totally underestimated the jet lag, my God.”
DION LEE
Offering a 360-degree view of Shanghai’s skyline, the building’s streamlined, all-glass exterior – it looks a little like a slim cheese grater – inspired the curvature of Lee’s tailoring this season. He met grungy eveningwear with shredded denim, hairy, egg-shaped coats and corseted hoodies sliced open at the chest to expose models’ chiselled pecs. Elsewhere, flames danced up lace-trimmed halternecks and stone-hued twinsets came equipped with heavy-duty knee and shoulder pads.
It was another triumphant step in the evolution of Lee’s namesake label, following the opening of two flagship stores – one in Miami, the other Melbourne – at the tail end of last year, with another in the works to open a stone’s throw away from his New York HQ. Things are only looking up for the label, which made news of its Australian arm going into voluntary administration in May, mere weeks after our call, a total shock to the industry.
The announcement came after retail chain Cue confirmed it was withdrawing investment from the brand (in 2013, it took a 51 per cent stake in the business, investing £15-40 million across the last decade). Lee’s label is continuing to operate as it looks for new investors.
DION LEE
The news comes as a dent in Lee’s bulletproof rise over the last 15 years. He launched his company in 2009, straight out of fashion school, with his second presentation, only a year later, being held at Sydney Opera House (the first brand to hold a fashion show at the historic site). His technical, body-conscious designs – often inspired by the anatomical structure of the human form – quickly propelled him to one of Australian Fashion Week’s must-sees.
“Australia is incredible, but there is a kind of cultural isolation that can make things hard sometimes to feel like you’re a part of a global conversation,” he says. “Traditionally, a lot of brands there focus purely on the Australian market. I went to college wanting to compare myself internationally.” He would show for two seasons in London in 2012 while still being based in Sydney, his hometown, borrowing friends’ studios across the UK’s capital to stage his collections.
“I realised early on that it wasn’t sustainable to travel to do runway shows,” says Lee. “Doing the Shanghai show, I forgot what it was like landing and doing everything out of a suitcase.”
He would show in New York for the first time in 2013, permanently relocating to the city in 2016. “It was so overwhelming to begin with. It’s a bubble in itself.” With Cue’s investment, he would rapidly expand the brand into new categories, including menswear in 2017. “When I launched the brand, menswear was virtually non-existent in Australia. After designing womenswear for so many years, the more I grew into myself I needed to personally connect with the clothes.”
DION LEE
There’s a genderless approach to his label, with many design codes being shared among both sides to the business. He tends to turn to fabrics with strong stretch ability so customers can shop across all sections of the brand. “I’ve been trying on women’s clothes for years, since I was a kid. There have been times when I’ve squeezed myself into our women’s samples,” he says. “That intuition of knowing how something feels on the body is genderless, which parts of your body you want to show when you feel sexy in something. I think putting myself into the pieces is a big part of what gives [the menswear] more of a human connection.”
There’s a powerful confidence that comes with Lee’s design handwriting that has made him a go-to for pop royalty. From Taylor Swift, who wore one of his corsets to the Super Bowl in February, to the likes of FKA Twigs, Dua Lipa and Blackpink, who have all donned his custom pieces. “When you’re working on a collection, music and how you soundtrack that feeling is such a fundamental part of completing the full picture,” he says. Many of the artists Lee has on his Spotify rotation when designing have gone on to wear his pieces on global tours and in music videos. “That’s one of the most rewarding things about the job. It’s really full circle.”
Lee’s profile was further propelled in the summer of 2022 when Rosalía commissioned him to design the wardrobe for her Motomami world tour. The star was kitted out in cropped leather biker jackets, knife-pleated mini kilts and bodysuits that snaked across her torso. “We were involved from the tour concept through to production, a 12-month process,” says Lee. “It was a real pinch-me moment being in those early conversations, then being in the audience watching the show in places like Madrid and Barcelona. It was pretty surreal to be part of that journey. I could definitely run away and be a costume designer.”
DION LEE
Most days, Lee spends his time below Canal Street. Living in Tribeca, he goes to the gym early morning before walking to his studio. He spends most working hours in back-to-back meetings, first with his studio team then with different departments of the Australian business. “We’re very lucky to have an amazing view so we don’t feel locked up in here the whole time,” he says with a laugh. Lee works on a satellite schedule, with teams dotted in different corners of the world. “We were Zooming long before Covid,” he says.
Despite the star-studded world Lee finds himself in, he isn’t much of a partier. He spends most evenings having dinner with friends or at home watching films. “I try to end my day with some source of inspiration,” he says.
Lee has big ambitions. Building the flagship stores last year piqued an interest in furniture design. “It works on a completely different timeline to fashion. I love the slow burn of releasing a product when it’s ready.” He’s keen to expand the leather goods side of his business, too, and has his sights on showing in Europe again. “Shanghai sparked a challenge in terms of what’s next, having the confidence to fall outside of the rhythm of being just in the seasonal cycle.” The last few months might have been rocky for Lee, but if his trajectory is anything to go by, the designer has no desire to slow down.
DION LEE
10 Men Issue 60 – ECCENTRIC, FANTASY, ROMANCE – is out now. Order your copy here.
DION LEE: THE EXPERIMENTALIST
Photographer MARCELO KRASILCIC
Creative Director and Talent DION LEE
Fashion Editor KYLE SAKUN
Text PAUL TONER
Grooming MARK EDIO using 111 Skincare and Dior Beauty
Photographer’s assistant EDEL KELLY
Fashion assistant SONYA MAZURYK
Special thanks to DELA KIRISOME
