“It is not their everyday identity. But when you put on Lu’u Dan, you become a badass.”
Hung La, who wears his brand as convincingly as any designer out there, was referring to two special appearances in his lineup. The first, Errolson Hugh, co-founder of the label Acronym, who you’ll see in the opening look sporting a latex hoodie, rubber apron and wadded denim—a perfect ensemble for an evening that may or may not end well (you’ll find him again donning a veritable butcher’s apron over supersized baggy jeans that are now a Lu’u Dan signature).
Then there’s photographer Peter Ash Lee, who can be spotted starting from Look 5, dressed in a similarly ominous fashion, and further down in fiercely faux-fur drawstring pants—half-man, half-bear. In the Paris showroom, models appeared in a selection from the lookbook, transformed from young guys into guerrillas and underworld types whose exaggerated yet precisely executed silhouettes would intimidate just about anyone.
La noted how this season’s “sinister” style manifested from his compound concerns around politics, climate change and wars, while also circling back to the early days of Covid when anti-Asian racism spread through New York and beyond. Hence “You Do Not Belong Here” as the collection title, a latent trauma now resurfacing as rage. “What I’m trying to say is, ‘he’s rebelling, he’s angry about the darkness, he’s fighting,’” La explained.
An outlaw approach has driven Lu’u Dan since its debut in 2022, with La consistently tapping into tougher, character-based representations of Asian masculinity. Silhouettes reiterated this message, with imposing streetwear volumes interpreted from ancient warriors and, in La’s words, “scary car mechanics” alike. Meanwhile, surfaces treated to distressed effect reiterated the brand’s experimental, process-focused strengths: crumpled calfskin and nylon, faded denim, a woven jersey doubling as a soft armor, and “x-ray” contrast screen printing that captured the inside of a garment while appearing like a trompe l’œil.
If a slick jumpsuit or padded cargo pieces look menacing, the point is not to glorify deviant behavior, La insisted, but to subvert power dynamics. The belonging of the title can be read in different ways, too. Yesterday, La walked in Willy Chavarria’s show, and marveled at “all the beautiful people of color—this is the beauty of fashion today.” Back in the showroom, where La welcomed Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase and rapper Key Glock, he acknowledged the Lu’u Dan badass might move on from the doom and gloom. “My collections are not always going to be this dark, I promise you.”
