Knitwear designer Chet Lo wants to dress Michelle Yeoh and have people wear his clothes to the of
At the brand’s autumn 2023 catwalk show, its collection – titled “Bioluminescence” – took a decidedly darker turn. Slits and cut-outs added colour to structural trousers and skirts, but the overall colour palette was devoid of the brand’s usual bubbly hues.
Lo’s signature spikes came in the form of black hoodies and mini dresses, with blue, red and lime green ombré accents; and the models with sculptural, gel-set hairdos stuck out their tongues tinted the same colours.
“Everyone always thinks of the brand as super happy and super colourful and super joyful, which I am as a person,” Lo told the Post ahead of the show. “This season, I was going through my own tumultuous emotional mess … I still wanted to have a little bit of joy and beauty in it, but in a more subtle way.”
Many associate Lo’s acid-bright clothes with partywear, but his newest collection makes a strong case for wearing his knits outside the club. “I want to make clothes you can wear to the office, grocery shopping, on a chill Sunday morning,” adds Lo. “I want the brand to infiltrate the customer’s whole life.”It is a lofty goal but, considering the pace at which Lo is establishing himself and cultivating a loyal following, it is not a wholly unrealistic one.
He marvels at the fact that just a few years after he started making knits in his bedroom, his team’s design process has become much more official: from navigating supply chains to making use of digital renderings, it is a real business – which, as many emerging designers know, is no small feat.
“When I started out, I did these watercolour doodles that, like, made no sense to anybody else except for myself. It feels so much more adult now. Like, I have a Mac,” he laughs.
One thing that has not changed as much is how Lo wants his knits to make people feel. He traces this back to when he was young and scared of being stared at as he walked down the street; it was through fashion that he realised he could play with this attention, and create a spectacle.
“For me, knitwear has always been super transformative. I don’t want it to be something you schlep on, but even if you’re at home sipping a cup of tea, I want you to be wearing a spiky hoodie.”
It will be reassuring to fans of Lo’s that his signature knits – which use a technique he found years ago in an old book when he was close to failing his knitwear class – are here to stay. But he is very much aware of the opportunities and challenges a designer faces when they become tied to a particular look or technique.
On one hand, his offering is distinct and extremely recognisable; on the other, the brand can get pigeonholed.
“What I’m constantly trying to prove through the collections is that each one is changing – I have to work extra hard to show that I have range,” says Lo. Of course, having a defined signature also exposes him to copycats, which, for many younger designers, is frustrating but ultimately unavoidable.
One silver lining is that, even within the world of knitwear, there is lots more for Lo to make his own. “I consider myself a novice and I’ve been studying knitwear for so long. But the possibilities are endless because you’re creating your own fabric. It’s double the amount of work, but leads to more discoveries.”
In the meantime, there are more silhouettes to experiment with, and more stars to deck out in statement-making knits – Lo names Michelle Yeoh as the celebrity he would most like to dress.But if his long-term goals are any indication, the designer wants to be known for much more than spiky clothes. Candles, furniture and tech are just a few categories and mediums he would like to explore.
“I definitely want to show people my entire universe instead of just one little aspect of it, and be able to invite them to the whole world,” Lo says. “I want to be able to actually show the different sides of my brain.”
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