Dress Up Envy
Hong Kong
Masculinity is both multifaceted and in a state of flux. Mixing ambiguity with elegance, a whole crop of young designers are subtly but relentlessly attacking menswear codes, turning staid notions and stereotypes on their heads, sartorially questioning ideas of identity and gender.
Recent Hong Kong Polytechnic graduate Jimmy Lam is part of this up-and-coming breed. "The role of the male is changing significantly," he says; "people are open to experiments." Lam's eponymous collection will not be available until next year, but the designer has already gained attention, in his country and abroad, thanks to an aesthetic that, in his own words, is "clean, understated, and romantic." Lam works in juxtapositions of masculine tailoring and feminine details, formal lines and slightly techno twists, with a stress on dress up that puts sportswear to rest. "I started my menswear because I was jealous of my lady friends dressing themselves up," he explains, only half-jokingly. "As a boy of this century, I should have freedom to express myself, rather than accept all the common perceptions on what a man should look like. This is why I entitled my graduate collection 'A Declaration of Free Spirit.' I want to challenge traditions while respecting the art of classic men's tailoring."
Lam's gender-bending, clerk-meets-femme sartorial outbursts bear echoes of '80s Westwood and Gaultier, with a resolutely more modern, spiky edge. A fine art student before he switched to fashion, the twenty-something designer is a technician with an arty soul. "I experiment with pattern cutting and garment construction," he says. Putting fabric to form in unexpected ways, what he delivers is a witty reconfiguration of iconic men's pieces. A waistcoat, for instance, is dramatically shortened, while another one sports dangling, outsized extra lapels; necktie remnants are attached to a flowing, asymmetric shirt, while feminine bits of black lace adorn the waistband of a tracksuit-like pair of trousers, or pop up mischievously under an open shirt. "I want to create a new vocabulary," he says of his densely layered efforts.
Lam is currently working with a group of other creatives from fields such as product and visual design on a soon-to-be-launched online project called Mister 'n' Missus. "We intend to mix fashion with lifestyle products and accessories," Lam says of the venture. On his part, he will contribute men's and, for the fist time, womenswear. You've been previewed.
-Angelo Flaccavento
Photos: Jimmy Lam "A Declaration of Free Spirit" collection
Photos by Angus Chan
JC Report
Hong Kong
Masculinity is both multifaceted and in a state of flux. Mixing ambiguity with elegance, a whole crop of young designers are subtly but relentlessly attacking menswear codes, turning staid notions and stereotypes on their heads, sartorially questioning ideas of identity and gender.
Recent Hong Kong Polytechnic graduate Jimmy Lam is part of this up-and-coming breed. "The role of the male is changing significantly," he says; "people are open to experiments." Lam's eponymous collection will not be available until next year, but the designer has already gained attention, in his country and abroad, thanks to an aesthetic that, in his own words, is "clean, understated, and romantic." Lam works in juxtapositions of masculine tailoring and feminine details, formal lines and slightly techno twists, with a stress on dress up that puts sportswear to rest. "I started my menswear because I was jealous of my lady friends dressing themselves up," he explains, only half-jokingly. "As a boy of this century, I should have freedom to express myself, rather than accept all the common perceptions on what a man should look like. This is why I entitled my graduate collection 'A Declaration of Free Spirit.' I want to challenge traditions while respecting the art of classic men's tailoring."
Lam's gender-bending, clerk-meets-femme sartorial outbursts bear echoes of '80s Westwood and Gaultier, with a resolutely more modern, spiky edge. A fine art student before he switched to fashion, the twenty-something designer is a technician with an arty soul. "I experiment with pattern cutting and garment construction," he says. Putting fabric to form in unexpected ways, what he delivers is a witty reconfiguration of iconic men's pieces. A waistcoat, for instance, is dramatically shortened, while another one sports dangling, outsized extra lapels; necktie remnants are attached to a flowing, asymmetric shirt, while feminine bits of black lace adorn the waistband of a tracksuit-like pair of trousers, or pop up mischievously under an open shirt. "I want to create a new vocabulary," he says of his densely layered efforts.
Lam is currently working with a group of other creatives from fields such as product and visual design on a soon-to-be-launched online project called Mister 'n' Missus. "We intend to mix fashion with lifestyle products and accessories," Lam says of the venture. On his part, he will contribute men's and, for the fist time, womenswear. You've been previewed.
-Angelo Flaccavento
Photos: Jimmy Lam "A Declaration of Free Spirit" collection
Photos by Angus Chan
JC Report
