LỰU ĐẠN is Redefining Asian Masculinity - A Talk with Hung La
Few brands have managed to define such a narrative and storyline in their work like London-based brand, LỰU ĐẠN. With this fashion powerhouse creating a concise aesthetic of Asian gangster meets romantic heart throb, this direction is so clear that it could have only been developed through someone who truly relishes in the brands DNA. This DNA has been defined by its designer, Hung La, who through his years of mastery, absorption of cultures, and hardships has crafted LỰU ĐẠN into an introspective view of himself and his view of the world.
Literally translating into ‘dangerous man’ in Vietnamese, LỰU ĐẠN, despite it being a fairly young brand, is headed up by one of fashions most experienced talents. Having trained and refined his craft working under some of the most predominant names in the industry, including Phoebe Philo at Céline and Nicolas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, La has been brought through the ranks, already established a worldwide successful brand, Kwaidan Editions, and then in 2021 created LỰU ĐẠN to mark another milestone in his career.
LỰU ĐẠN looks to explore the gritty, the gross, and the unruly part of Asian masculinity. Redefining the tough guy aesthetics, La implements nuances of Asian culture such as Japanese gangster films and marries this with inventive patterning and unique forms. The result is a brand that successful conveys a bad boy image but partners it with elegance and suave. Being able to lean on both sides of the spectrum, LỰU ĐẠN ignites a provocative urge in the wearer and the viewer, and it’s this sensation of emotion through his work that makes the brand far ahead of its time.
Being a Vietnamese-American working in one of the most competitive industries in the world is no easy task. Rife with prejudice, La has been hardened through his experiences in the industry and now channels this into his brand. Having always been magnetized towards the villain, this is what LỰU ĐẠN sets to be: the bad guy, the wrong doer, but most importantly, the misunderstood. La, intrigued by the ideologies of the bad guy, explores this concept of ‘why’ behind the bad guy, and through his work unravels the many layers that a villain has to them.
Offering evocative prints and bold colours and form, LỰU ĐẠN invites the Asian male into something new. Breaking convention, the collections throughout the years have a focus on tradition, urbanity, and modernity whilst always being embellished by Asian-inspired culture. From denim to leather to wild printed shirts, whilst each season La invites diversity, each piece is undeniably in tune with his original vision.
In celebration of his most recent AW23, La Hung has partnered with AI creative, Luke Nugent, to develop a campaign that dives into his ‘bad guy’ narrative. Producing a lookbook entirely through AI, the assets feature LỰU ĐẠN clothing with an unsettling but ultimately intriguing presence. We have covered the talents of Luke Nugent before, and once again he proves himself as a distinctive creative in the field of fashion and photography.
Despite the bad guy appearance, La is anything like a villain. We managed to sit down with him to discuss his career, the ins and outs of his brand, and why villains resonate so much with him.
For those who don't know, could you please introduce us to yourself and your brand?
Okay my name is Hung La, Vietnamese-American based in London. We launched in Lu’u Dan, I think it was last January? So, it's a bit about a year and a half, so it's still very early days. My experience; I’m a luxury designer, I kind of cut my teeth at Balenciaga and then for Phoebe Philo at Celine for a couple of years, and got burnt out by the high-fashion kind of inter-house/LVMH-Kering war. My partner and I started a brand called Kwaidan Editions. I think it was about 6~7 years ago, and it's mostly women's.
My partner is more in charge of Kwaidan, and I do more work for Lu’u Dan. Lu’u Dan means “dangerous man” in Vietnamese, it also means “enraged” or “grenade,” and it was somewhat a colloquial term from my father's generation. They would say things like, “Oh, that dude's Lu’u Dan,” you know. It speaks to this brand of Asian masculinity, which isn't maybe what you see a lot, since it’s rather exclusive to Asia. It's like the guy who drinks a little bit too much, he likes to gamble, and as you can imagine, he's a little bit shady or dodgy. They have a very particular style, but they have this strength, and that's kind of what Lu’u Dan kind of refers to for me.
We’re also inspired by the Japanese, particularly people like Jōji Hashiguchi, and Katsumi Watanabe; these street photographers during their time encapsulates the essence of this idea of a man; Lu’u Dan, and a lot of the original references and the original imagery that we refer to are kind of nostalgic.
How has the brand started? What was some early inspiration?
The roots of the brand really were born in lockdown, I would say. Early into COVID-19 happening, and I live in London, so far away from all of my family, back in America. Missing home cooking and Asian food, and when George Floyd happened, this awoke all this conversation about race and identity, forcing me to question things: What are we doing? Is it equal? Why is there so much inequality? Why isn’t there more representation?
I've always worked in these big luxury design houses or in my other womenswear label, but I never spoke about my own identity or my my own masculinity. and as COVID-19 was evolving and lockdown became more and more stringent, I realized I never used my voice as a designer, and if I'm not using my voice in this day and age what am I doing?
I mean I did use my voice in design, but it wasn't speaking to my culture; I just felt like there was a calling, and it was just a moment as real as it gets. The crux of Lu’u Dan is this idea of spotlighting underrepresented Asian culture and stories, and I actually think sabukaru is at the forefront of this too.
I learned so much stuff about what cool things are happening in Asia and Japan through you guys, whether it’s different subcultures, manga, or like pop-stars, and even k-pop. It reminded me of how fucking cool it is to be Asian. I'm sorry, but I don't know why there's a hierarchy. There's so much cool culture, clothes, food, and even music. It just takes a community for these things to spring.
The West has been ripping off Asia for so long, and the narrative has always been putting these other figures in front, and taking credit or blatantly remaking Asian films with Hollywood. For the first time, it's kind of being subverted, and for me, although I don't want to be base level, it's about time that we see more Asian faces in front, and it's not to say that there should be less other faces. it's just time
Having only started in 2021, the brand has seen massive success and getting recognition worldwide with the next generation leaders such as the likes of Billie Eilish – Why is it so important to connect with the new, progressive talents of today?
I think that's a really interesting question, because the pillars of Lu’u Dan are based off of 3 things: Asian identity, my love of villains, and my personal story. Growing up in the West in the 80s, there weren't enough Asian faces or Asian role models to look up to. So, making peace with that teenager who felt lost, misunderstood, and lacked the connection like all teens, but ultimately, this yearning to connect with a bigger role model, is important for me. Back then, I looked up to people like Tupac and Kurt Cobain, and I aspired to be them because of how cool they were. The music that they created, the world that they surrounded themselves in. Role models are important for everyone growing up.
Billie Eilish happens to be a huge role model, and she connects with a huge portion of the new generation, and what that means to me is that, to get that kind of representation and power for what we're doing is important to spread our messages. One of Billie Eilish’s big songs that made her really big was “bad guy [2019],” right? And she’s perfect for what Lu’u Dan stands for because she’s talking about a bad boy, whether or not this person is Asian, female, genderless, or Caucasian, there's an umbrella to her. There's an umbrella of those pillars I mentioned, and basically, I think it's so important for representation because whatever I choose to speak about, Asian identity in this case, fans that look up to Billie Eilish are lumped into the conversation, and I think that just shows the strength of what we're doing.
Working under Phoebe Philo at Celine and Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, you have been a part of some of the best luxury fashion brands in the world. How was working under these people in the industry helped shape you as a designer?
I think it's the understanding of how to do things at the highest level, and at both of those places, there was a huge distaste for mediocrity. 90% of stuff that was created would end up in the bin, so it's an understanding of excellence and how much hard work goes into making something special. That's kind of what I took from those experiences. I don't know if you want to know anything particular about any of those places, but Balenciaga, for me, with Nicola was sort of all about creating shit that’s never been done before. He was just so into innovative and new things that pushed boundaries. Because of that, he didn't ever want to see the same thing, so my job was to come up with the craziest bullshit you could think of, and it was a great experience working with him.
Phoebe was equally amazing, but very different. She was very much into constraint, and creating beauty from constraint. So long as the garment is wearable, long lasting, and desirable enough, it makes it even more beautiful. So, I had a good education at both places. It's hard work building brands.
You are very open in regard to the struggles you faced being a Vietnamese-American in the industry in the early stages of your career. How has the industry changed since then, or perhaps has not?
Thanks for doing your homework, that's a good question. I speak a lot about inequality, and the bamboo ceiling. The thing with race and fashion is that, on the forefront, every company talks and makes the importance of diversity seem a big deal, but behind, inside the company, that's not really visible. So, there's all sorts of internal political circles, to be perfectly honest. I don't know what’s going on now because the past 8~9 years, I've been in this bubble of brand building. So, I just know my ecosystem.
I don't know what it's like in these big fashion houses today, however, when I was there 9~10 years ago, there used to not be a lot of diversity, but I think company culture can and has changed over the years. I don't know. I mean both of the luxury houses were exactly the environment that I bred ground for that kind of culture. They were very demanding. It was very competitive, and there certainly were people who were favored over others. There were also people who were not fit for this kind of environment. It's a competitive playing field, basically. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, I think the days of abusive relationships and toxic work environments, although I'm sure they still exist, the last ten years has made it so that these places needed to reevaluate and evolve.
Do you think the kind of struggles you faced in the early stages of your career is maybe what made you progress into this liking this bad guy personality?
That's actually a really good point. I never looked at it that way, but yeah there is a little bit of bitterness in terms of the inequality I faced. What bothered me the most, is the fact that it wasn’t just directed towards other races. I just get a little bit upset when I see things that are not equal, and in a villainous kind of way, a lot of villains actually seek justice, but not always through what is conventionally accepted as morally right.
I've always identified with villains, I don't know why I'm the type of dude that loves to watch the rise of these villains, but I suppose I love to see these narrative arcs, where shit's just coming together. I love that I actually root for the villain. I don't know who, and I don't know how many others, although I’m sure there are many other people that also do this. I mean I just think the villain often has a better style, as well. They almost always have a better backstory, there's always this kind of psychological aspect to them. The way that I look at it, villains don't happen in isolation, right? There are all sorts of circumstances that lead to their rise. I look at villains as humans. There are conditions that allow him or her to become who they are.
Speaking of the luxury fashion industry, how hard is it in order to fit inside this highly competitive scene?
It's so competitive. There are so many brands out there, and with social media totally disrupting what design is and the role of a creative designer is, at the end of the day, people look for authenticity, originality, and something unique. The hope is the DNA of the brand that you build kind of pulsates through every realm of its being, so that everybody on the team can understand and emanate in multiple different facets.
To be quite honest, running your own brand is something I would not recommend. Unless you're a bit masochistic. You’re running a business, doing PR, working with factories, working with minimums, financing, managing social media, and going on multiple meetings; the skill set demanded from designers of brands like Balenciaga, I would say is similar to being an architect, a movie director, a craftsman, and so many different skills all at the same time.
Appointments like Pharrell, and what Virgil was doing was so influential, the landscape has shifted so much. From when I was in luxury fashion, which is my point of reference, things have changed drastically, because it was really about exclusivity. These days it's subverted with social media being a thing. It’s all about inclusivity now, so I think it's become an even more competitive marketplace. At the end of the day, it's very difficult to make a product, and equally if not harder to capture the intention of everybody, because everyone's eyeballs are always kind of looking for the next entertaining thing. It’s definitely more difficult to make something that lasts, and to have the kind of authenticity or something original to say, while continuing to kind of captivate and push the envelope forward.
The brand explores your roots, from your love for punk music to the culture you were exposed to at an early age. Can you explain certain nuances of your brand that really embody these roots?
I grew up in the suburbs of the DMV, short for District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. It's a suburban area of Washington D.C., and I grew up in an enclave of a Vietnamese community, but conversely, I went to an American high school, junior high school, elementary school being the minority the whole way through. To be quite honest, I didn't feel comfortable with the other Asian kids. I didn't align with their ideals, and I felt like an outsider within that community. So I hung out with some of the Hip-hop kids, the skaters, the rockers, the ones who would skip school, smoke pot, deal drugs. Personally, that just felt cooler to me. I guess the villain in me was rebelling against these traditional tropes of being good at math, and good at piano type of thing. I couldn't stand that structure.
So I rebelled against that. I didn't identify with all of that. But music was a big influence, so I was like Nirvana coming up, you know. I was actually really into, but in hindsight, this was rather the result of the lack of choices, Tupac, Guns N' Roses, early punk bands like Ramones, Iggy Pop, and all of these bands sort of saved me. Basically what I'm getting at is that, most teens are lost, and while some teens can be funny, tall, or sexy, I found some sense of style, which became a way of thinking. I always had cool clothes on, like a baggy pair of JNCO jeans, or stuff from early Stüssy, and even Umbros. I just knew that I could get people's attention through the way I dressed.
Those were the early seeds; my first catwalk was like walking down the hallway at school, and having people check, right? That's how I chose to communicate. That was the energy I was vibing off of. I wasn't the one telling the joke in front of the class, but I would look cool and those were the roots of Lu’u Dan in a way. That was my way of communication; to dress and, at that age, you're just adopting different codes, right? It's not like you're creating your own style, but you just feel at a very basic level, it's like people are harding you, right? You can just feel that energy.
The way that we see people is automatically, when you're a teenager, you can just read somebody, you can read their vibe right away and it's just like, what are the clothes they're wearing, how is their hair, what are the music they're listening to and it's like, yeah, they're cool, they're down, they understand, but that's fashion is the vehicle for all that connection.
Your brand, Lu’u Dan, means enraged or dangerous man in Vietnamese. Can you tell us a little bit about the reasoning behind this?
Yeah, my dad came up with it. My dad, and uncle. For me, I guess it comes back to under representation, and all the different stories that are untold. Cool culture that is not spoken or seen. It really boils down to the first times I put the Katsumi Watanabe and Jōji Hashigushi photos on the board and was like, “this man is fucking bad.” This man is a fucking G, and nobody knows about him. Nobody knows about him in depth. Nobody knows how hard he worked, nobody knows how loyal he was, and certainly nobody knew how much he had to struggle to be who he is. But he still exudes this coolness, right? Asian people do know, because when I show it to other Asians they're like, I got you. But nobody elsewhere knows about this character in the West. It hasn't bubbled up. I saw a video on YouTube about the male Asian Himbo, and I'm like, “dude, there are much cooler things that we should be talking about.
So this is what the Lu’u Dan persona represents. I actually wrote another op-ed that's going to come out in July, and this one is much more of a representative of the role models, and I talk a lot about this idea of what we talked about; not having role models in mass media, hence looking for role models within the community. Basically these are the men that left war-torn Vietnam, came over to America, set up roots, left all of their prestige, honor, and lives behind to build a new life for their family.
Moving over to the West for the first time, they were confronted with all sorts of racism, and misunderstanding, and they were not allowed to be the alpha males. So, they had to make ends meet doing certain things. They would get into dodgy things, because they didn't have all the opportunities, and within these subcultures I saw, there was a lot of gambling, mahjong, and karaoke; a lot of these things.
One of the things we do at Lu’u Dan is events, where we celebrate how Asians like to celebrate. One time, we had a party in Paris, where I took all the different Asian communities that travel to Paris, and had biang biang noodles in this little dive in Paris, and I didn't necessarily want to educate anyone, but rather have a good time amongst ourselves. I personally think what you guys do is exemplary. You just want to show people there are different cool shit. This is fucking cool, and this is what's going on. This is the depth. This is what you don't know because your eyes aren’t open to it.
Lu’u Dan has been coined as ‘redefining Asian masculinity’. With Asian being particularly strict on expectations and appearances, how does the brand help to break the stigma and explore personality?
One of the challenges I had when I first started the brand was talking about Asian identity. Does talking about a villain really push the node, and is that pushing the trope forward? But unfortunately, these kinds of things only ever happen on the big screens, which is where everybody watches to get entertained. You have Asian villains that don't have a lot of depth, kung-fu masters with explosives, and they’re not that nuanced in terms of storytelling. So, I've always been conflicted about this situation, because I'm really into villains, but I also want to talk about Asian identity. Wouldn't it yield more positive outcomes if I just talked about a more positive role model? Someone with good values? But I love villains because there's an entertainment aspect to them. Lu’u Dan came about through this internal monologue: this mix of my personal history, my love of villains, and yearning to talk about Asian identity.
So, to loop back to your question, how exactly do we push the conversation forward? I want to talk about Asian masculinity. I want to talk about the strength we have. I want to talk about Asian identity with nuance, which does not start with the stereotypical kung-fu master. I like kung fu, but I want to get into more depth. I want to talk about that character and put a spotlight on their backstory, you know? Why is he like that? What are the troubles? Because at the end of the day, somehow, everybody can identify with the villain. Everybody's been that guy one way or the other, but seldom do people become the hero.
However, for me, there is a bit of conflict. I in fact do but I wish the stories had a more positive outcome, but not necessarily leaning into a hero’s tale. Alas, we're talking about fictional characters. I rather take pre-existing references and kind of mix them up in my own sauce, and tell these stories my own way, you know. So I guess to answer your question it's about stories with depth and digging deep for this collection that I'm allowed to release in Paris.
I was really into tobi trousers and kind of this working class dude, right? So, for me, these types of people who wear tobi trousers are kind of a villain sometimes. He's a hard and all that, but depending on the angle we're putting spotlight on which part of the Asian identity is, we're talking about a very specific dude. We’re spotlighting his story, he's working class, and he doesn't aspire for more. He's not your typical villain, but we’re putting the lens on something that people don't always try to see, but we can show these people in a genuine way.
Let’s dive into your most recent project, working with AI creative Luke Nugent. Can you tell us a little bit about this partnership and the results?
Let’s start with Luke because Luke's imagery is just, it's uncanny, it's surreal. It's so thought-provoking. And what's interesting to me about Luke is that it's art because he's almost tricking the AI.
I think at this stage it's really fascinating and it's interesting how we can use tools like AI and how the technology is evolving and where it's going to go. It's exciting. I think the challenge is, it's what's also very exciting about it, iis that it's very scary because what can happen with this? What Luke was doing was just so appealing though because on the surface anyone can do it, but it’s how he elevates it is so fascinating.
Anybody can put a couple words in and make something, right? But how can you make something elevate when you're not really controlling it, right? Like to a degree you are, you're giving it prompts, but it's not like you're not like telling it ‘you should make it more like this and then do that’. To a degree you can, but it's, there's still this black magical curtain behind it all, and then it just comes out, right? So with Luke, it was just the fact that I want to work with this guy, he seems in front of this. When he did a big campaign with Casablanca and I was like, this kid has something to say. And I wanted to tap into his world and mash it with mine.
We have similar references. We talked about some cultures. We have a love of certain types of films. So there was an early kind of link between us. I just reached out and told himI love what you do. I'd love to do something. And he's like, let's do something together. He's in London and I shared with him my DNA book, some of the look books, some of the campaigns, and some key words that we work around. And I just told him to mash it up.
With Lu’u Dan, we talk about what's real so much. I wanted to talk about what was unreal with this campaign. I wanted to step out of my wheelhouse and challenge the kind of the notions of identity, race. The crux goes back to that teenager that doesn't identify, right? And I wanted to create something otherworldly so that that kid could dream
The results speak for themselves - the content created is incredible. But, with AI being a popular yet controversial tool within the industry, what made you want to venture into this realm of creativity?
So I just got to a point where I was like, we've been hammering this message home for a while now. And I really wanted to leave it to the unknown, the challenging, the mysterious, the vague, and moving away from the traditional. So for me, the brand is at a stage of moving away from a lot of those nostalgic references—the Jōji Hashiguchi, the Katsumi Wantanabe, and similar characters— from the 70s. I'm moving away from that. People already understand that we're all about Asian identity. They understand we're all about the villain. But I wanted to catch people a little bit off guard, and kind of challenge the notions of what Asian identity is with this. What is gender identity? What can we create that's unreal? What are the tools at our disposal to drop the imagery associated, and make people think?
I always think of those early Diesel campaigns in the early 2000s and just look at those and be like, how did they? How did they come up with the bubble wrap? A bigger question: how did they do these things as a small brand? We don't have those tools that they had? But all of a sudden, a light bulb switched, and you're like, you can play with whatever you want, however you want. And the really messed up thing about AI when talking about race and identity, is that if you don't know what you're doing, it gives you the most generic and stereotypical stuff.
If I type in "Asian villain," it's kind of racist. It's kind of dangerous in a way if you don't check your intentions. So for me, to answer that question, and I hope that the community understands, I wanted to challenge them. I hope they've understood. Yes, there's a very real man that we're talking about. And I counterbalance that by doing a city tour, kind of off the records. We're going to release it in July, but it's with the Bo Ningen. They’re a Japanese noise band with crazy long hair. I'll show you a really quick image, but this is kind of off, off the record, but I just, so basically in my mind, I can do that thing with Luke, because I'm doing stuff like this. So this is like a photo shoot that I did with Erika Kamano with this kind of hair band. So it's like stuff like this allows me to kind of do different facets.
Your collections aim to deliver a meaningful story through the clothes and help spotlight underrepresented men and women. In what way does the brand do this?
We do a couple of different initiatives. The London City Tours, which I just showed you, is this initiative where we travel around and find local creatives that we ourselves want to tell the story. The first one was on a club owner and a motorcycle photographer. It was in New York. It was Bowen Goh and Jae Kim. and I had a conversation with them, spotlighting their stories. I love their vibe. They've been interviewed before, but never really deep ones, where they were asked about who their role models were growing up, you know? Why do you dress the way that you do? Who do you identify with? Did you feel represented? So we tell those stories.
We work exclusively with Asian photographers and stylists for those series. And it's like celebrating this city with local characters with Lu’u Dan, you know. So we've done New York, we've done London; we're going to release London in July. Shanghai's next on the books, I think, and then we'd like to do Tokyo. So it's like spotlighting different cultures, and I'd love to do something on bōsōzoku in Japan. The last collection was on the Black Emperor gang.
We’re looking for niche cultures, but take the time and tell the stories of the people, you know? And we're doing another collaboration, I can't tell you with who, but we're working with Japanese craftsmen. We're making a knife, a Lu’u Dan knife, and these are old samurai craftsmen.
Another initiative that we do is street casting in London. So my team digs up these kids on Instagram who have a cool vibe, bring them to the studio, dress them up in Lu’u Dan, take their photos, and put it up on Instagram. It really is a community brand, you know. it's not just about the clothes. The clothes have to be cool, that's my job but the community is really the main thing. It’s really all about how I can spotlight these personal stories, you know?
The previous brand you worked on, Kwaidan Editions, was a female-oriented brand although Lu’u Dan focuses on menswear – How come you wanted to head more in this direction?
I think it's because it was so personal, the DNA for this brand made sense. I mean, we were talking, and women's is launching in a couple of weeks on Essence. It is quite genderless, but the character originates with the man. So, it is more menswear if you want to put it in a category. But I think it’s also because of the personal angle; it really comes down to how Asian identities are hyper-fetishized in the West. My perspective comes from Western culture because I know that in Asia there aren’t any real a lack of representation, right? Rather, you're the minority there, but that's what makes the city tours so beautiful —it takes a snapshot of that specific economy.
Back to menswear, I've always been a womenswear designer, because it's challenging, and the fact that I've never done streetwear pushed me to take this direction. We do a lot of denim, so that's new. It's pretty cool what we do, if I do say so myself. So I'm just excited to continue to ride this wave, and yeah, I'm enjoying it. So I don't really see too big of a difference between menswear and women's. However, I do think the original references are definitely masculine.
There are clear inspirations from Japanese gangsters or cinema in your designs. Could you explain a little bit about why this style resonates so much with you?
So the film that comes off the top of my head is “Sonatine [1993],” by Tekeshi Kitano. The other one would be “Ichi the Killer [2001],” by Takashi Miike. Both of these films have a rawness in terms of violence that is uncanny, and very human. On another note, especially with Kitano, there's this duality, that absurdness of realness. The poetry of the softer side. What's really beautiful about these characters is that they have so much depth to them. They have that duality.
In Eastern culture, there's always this idea of yin and yang; dualities. Two polar opposites that create one whole. And for me, Kitano is at his best when creating that kind of tension. Both for the characters and how he portrays himself in his films. It's just about how conflicted they are, how mundane they are, and how exciting they are. That's the kind of depth that I aspire to have and continue to believe in.
Are there any Japanese designers that have inspired you with Lu’u Dan?
Early collections were really based off of Gangster Yoji. Kansai Yamamoto is a huge influence of mine. COMME des GARÇONS is always something I took inspiration from, especially from their world building, and has always been fascinating to me. Junya is amazing, and for me, the way that I look at it, because I'm Vietnamese-American, since I believe in the idea of people of color being the global majority, we try to embrace this idea of otherness and minorities. I don't know if it's correct for me to work around Japanese influence, but I hope the Japanese people feel like there's an intention and authenticity to what I do. However, I also understand that I can't speak for them.
I hate the idea of Pan-Asian, but I wish that we could connect the roots of Asian identity in a way that we can all understand. Yes, we all go walking through society and culture with this kind of face. There are certain ways that people react to one Asian father, and one Asian mother. These are kind of the tapestry that interconnect those things. But I digress. To be honest with you, Japanese culture is amazing. Most of the references I take inspiration from are from Japanese culture. More than Vietnamese. I don't know what that says about me, but the hope is that we're telling stories from an authentic place.
I do want to do a city tour in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Chengdu. Sometimes there are hidden gems that we can draw inspiration from for our collections, and the one on triads illustrates this point perfectly. Elsewhere, I'm really digging into Rastafarian Indonesian, kind of reggae, just spotlighting different versions.
What are some of the future plans for Lu’u Dan? Is there anything our audience needs to keep their eye on?
Yeah, we got a lot of shit coming up. In 2 weeks time, we're dropping the fourth collection, which is for Autumn Winter 2023, in shops worldwide. We're going to release the campaign with Luke Nugent, with you guys. We're also going to be doing Paris Fashion Week that week. We’re also doing a London City Tour. We're going to continue with City Tours. I got a collab coming up, and I’m also going to be a part of Shanghai Fashion Week, so look out for that.
Thank you so much for your time!
Interview and text by Joe Goodwin
