Chet Lo’s Reinvention Comes Full Circle
Review of Chet Lo Spring 2025 Fashion Show
By Angela Baidoo
THE COLLECTION
THE VIBE
Coming-of-age, reimagined #officecore, reinvention
Paying homage to Mai-Wah Cheung’s (Lo’s mother) career reinvention – from her career as one of the first women in computer science to becoming a Chief Information Officer through to the latter part of her life as a teacher and painter – Chet Lo sought to create a collection which drew on her “powerful office wardrobe, reimagining [it] with a modern twist” according to todays show notes. Cue a commentary on the duality in which women who seek to break barriers face before finding their happy place, in the case of Lo’s mother that place was in art.
Expansion, alongside reinvention are words which encompass the first full of London fashion week as the most recent co-hort of NEWGEN and Fashion East alum are taking off their training wheels and getting down to the business of building a viable fashion brand.
Gone were the multi-coloured spikes which had become the designers signature, choosing to take a subtle side-step with his use of the textural. Which makes sense as it has become a style ubiquitous with fast fashion brands both copying and remixing the technique. In its place was a world away from the candy-coloured snow bunnies of Fall 2022 and instead we witnessed a designer growing in confidence in his talent for texture. Rather than just the all-over distribution from previous seasons, a grid-like check formation or “glitch pattern” (derived from his mothers digital expertise) on a ‘serene’ sage strapless dress was a stand-out and proved that there was more life in his spikes yet. If I were to coin a phrase it would that this collection was akin to a marrying of Missoni and Miyake, as we were reminded of Lo’s skilled way with knitwear. Not since Mark Fast has a British designer had his way with the humble yarn and made it their own.
For spring 2025 we should also consider Lo’s pleated pieces (which were part of the expansion I referenced earlier) as well as his menswear which may soon command a runway (or at the least a presentation) of its own, for his belted knitted hoodies and wrap skirt-cum-trousers alone.
The designer also went to the dark side, a theme that’s becoming more attractive to designers of late, especially as climate change is causing an upending of the seasons and darker tones are easier worn year round, here a dusky palette was shot through with moss green and cobalt.
And like any respectable brand seeking to break even, there was also an increase in his bag range with approximately 30% of his models carrying his unisex oversized clutches.
THE DIRECTION
THE WRAP UP
The kids are gonna be alright as Chet Lo and his peers are navigating what is a volatile market by refusing to bow to the pressures of conformity, but instead using that which caused them to be plucked from a sea of graduates for the the Fashion East programme and showing they can lead a renaissance which will (if the powers that be let it) change the way the industry does things. Chet Lo’s grasp of what made his name, and his ability to evolve it, is a positive indicator that he is considering the long term trajectory of his brand.
