Latest news with #ChetLo
BBC News
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
London Fashion Week: Tactile sessions aid visually impaired fans
London Fashion Week - the buzz, the cameras, the bright lights, the glitz and glamour - is a visceral feast for the could there be a way for people who are visually impaired to properly experience the spectacle?This year, non-profit organisation Hair & Care created an "immersive tactile experience", allowing guests to touch runway pieces and hear detailed audio including Chet Lo, Roksanda and SS Daley took part in the initiative. Jessikah Inaba, the UK's first blind black barrister, said she usually used the descriptions of clothes to create an image of the piece in her mind. But this opportunity led to something she called "a reverse experience". "I get to feel the texture, hear the description, and imagine how the written description would capture what I'm sensing."Chet Lo has been amazing at describing everything — the colour, the pattern, the material. "It plays such a huge role in helping me really understand and appreciate the garments." Another of the guests, student Aleks Tamasauskas, said that although fashion is "a very visual thing" the audio descriptions and swatches "definitely help to paint a better understanding". "It helps you put one and one together - having a visual impairment means that sometimes you cannot see if something is a dress or a suit."We were seated right in front of the models so we could see the details and the outfits. "The audio description provided to us was quite well thought out. It gave some explanation of what the models were wearing and the materials used." Lucy Edwards, an influencer and model who lost her sight when she was younger, said she knew nothing about fashion or styling. "The world felt shut out to me. "There was no reference point, no way for me to participate. It felt like my sense of self was ripped away. "For years, I was missing out, but now, with this tactile experience I'm finally able to feel and connect with the pieces in a way I've never been able to before." 'Just learn, just do it' The project is not just about feeling the pieces, but getting a deeper understanding of the inspiration for the clothes. The designers ensured each garment was fully described through audio for the blind and low vision guests, creating a more immersive experience. Ms Edwards said: "Hearing Chet's cheery voice on the audio description but also knowing about him and why he wants to create the things he does makes it so much more meaningful and I think that is the gift of blindness. "It brings the catwalk to life. This is the future. "Audio description is simple, it's just an inclusive way to be, it's 2025. "Just learn, just do it, don't be afraid, disability is all around. Tactile is king."Mr Lo said he "always believed that fashion was not just for a specific kind of person. "I like to design for all genders and races and differently abled people." Jane Manley from the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) said she had "a much better experience than sighted people" who didn't get to feel the intricacies of Chet Lo's added: "It's about helping us decide if the style, colour, and shape fit our identity," she added."If you're a clothing brand, make sure you have alt text on your images so we understand what we're looking at."
.jpeg%3Ftrim%3D432%2C0%2C1434%2C0%26width%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)
The Independent
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Hair crimping is back – how to make the most of the early noughties trend
At London Fashion Week, Chet Lo revived a hairstyle synonymous with the Y2K era: crimping. In a departure from the prevailing natural hair trends, the Asian-American designer embraced a nostalgic aesthetic for his autumn/winter 2025 collection. Known for his bold, textural designs, Lo collaborated with celebrity hairstylist Anna Cofone and Authentic Beauty Concept to achieve the distinctive Noughties look. Models sported a striking combination of pin-straight hair interspersed with uniformly crimped sections, a hallmark of the early 2000s. Cofone explained the inspiration behind the hairstyle: "The inspiration for today's look is very much a continuation of patterns and panels," she said. "We wanted to mimic the patterns in Chet's clothes, so we've got these cool, crimped panels appearing at the back of the model 's hair and on some of the sides." To achieve the desired sleek and shiny finish reminiscent of the era, Cofone utilized Authentic Beauty Concept's hair balms and glow serums. These products helped to tame flyaways and create the signature Y2K shine. While the smooth, glossy hairstyles evoke the early Noughties, the crimping itself also recalls trends from the 1980s, a decade that has seen a resurgence on this season's runways. 'I think it's great that it's got this reference to the Eighties,' says Cofone. 'Do I think [crimping] is going to come back? I think people can definitely play with crimps and see what shape they get – for sure.' The nostalgic crimped hair was the perfect accessory for the low-rise skirts and asymmetric tops that flooded this season's runway – ushering the return of early 2000s fashion – much to Gen Z's happiness.
The Independent
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Y2K crimping is coming back, according to fashion week runways
Chet Lo brought back Y2K crimping at London Fashion Week, steering away from the hyper-natural hair trends of the moment, and leaning into style nostalgia. The Asian-American designer, known for his clashing textural designs, collaborated with celebrity hairstylist Anna Cofone and Authentic Beauty Concept to create a textbook Noughties look. Cofone combined pin-straight hair with uniform crimps, creating a quintessentially Y2K look for Lo's autumn/winter 2025 collection. 'The inspiration for today's look is very much a continuation of patterns and panels,' said Cofone, 'we wanted to mimic the patterns in Chet's clothes, so we've got these cool, crimped panels appearing at the back of the model's hair and on some of the sides.' As for the products, the goal was to look shiny and slick, so Cofone used Authentic Beauty Concept's hair balms and glow serums to calm any flyaways and add that Y2K-style shine. While flat and shiny hairstyles are reminiscent of the early Noughties, crimping also recalls the trends of the Eighties, which have been observed on this season's runways. 'I think it's great that it's got this reference to the Eighties,' says Cofone. 'Do I think [crimping] is going to come back? I think people can definitely play with crimps and see what shape they get – for sure.' The nostalgic crimped hair was the perfect accessory for the low-rise skirts and asymmetric tops that flooded this season's runway – ushering the return of early 2000s fashion – much to Gen Z's happiness.
The Independent
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
What are ‘touch tours'? How designers are now engaging blind fashion lovers with their creations
While much has changed over the 40 years since the initial London Fashion Week, the way in which collections are showcased has more or less stayed the same. But designers are beginning to change their approach. With the help of Hair & Care, a non-profit organisation that supports blind and visually impaired women and girls find their confidence in the fashion and beauty industry, designers are offering 'touch tours'. 'I'm a visual learner, in the sense that my fingers are my eyes,' explains braille tutor Jessikah Inaba, who is the UK's first blind and black barrister, 'so in order for me to fully grasp what the piece looks like, I need to be able to feel the fabric, to feel the stretch and to feel the patterns on the material. 'I do think it would be a good idea for all fashion shows to always have pieces of the fabric on hand to cater or to accommodate to the needs of any blind people.' Set up in 2019 by Anna Cofone, a hairstylist who has worked with the likes of Lana Del Rey and Margaret Qualley, and who grew up with a blind father, Hair & Care began working with activists, influencers and campaigners to encourage designers to make their collections more accessible. Chet Lo, known known for his avant-garde, pointed designs, and for dressing the likes of Dua Lipa, Zendaya, and Kendall and Kylie Jenner, is one of the designers changing the way his autumn/winter show is received this year. This season, the American-Chinese designer is inviting guests who are blind or have impaired vision to experience his collection through feeling swatches of fabric, while being on hand to help guests explore the garments verbally, ahead of his runway show at London Fashion Week. The tactile quality of Chet Lo's designs make them the ideal garments for a touch tour. 'For me, as a fashion lover, if I can be up close and personal, really feeling the designs, that's a great way for me to be more in touch with trends,' says blind activist and broadcaster, Lucy Edwards, 'as I know that [these designers] are going to be inspiring the next wave of high-street fashion.' Edwards was the first ever blind model to walk at Copenhagen Fashion Week, thanks to Hair & Care's initiatives. '[Anna and I] spent an hour before Copenhagen Fashion Week putting these tactile markers on the runway,' she explains, 'Anna was holding treats for Miss Molly [Lucy's guide dog] to follow, navigating statues – you know, where there's a will, there's a way.' Having lost her eyesight at 17, Edwards felt the world of fashion, that she had been so invested in, was now closed off to her. 'I felt like the whole beauty and fashion world shut me out that day, through no fault of my own. I was learning on the job, not knowing what was going on with my sense of self, because people saw me not as 'me' anymore,' she says. 'What I would say is, you probably don't know someone who's blind or disabled in your life right now, but what's important is, you're reading this article. 'I had sight one day and suddenly lost it. I didn't know I was going to lose my eyesight so young, but I'm here, and I'm loving my life, and I'm able to [still] love the things that I have always loved, like fashion and beauty, because of Hair & Care.' Edwards' sentiments are echoed by Jane Manley, an analyst at the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People). 'It's certainly not easy these days to be really fashionable, and certainly for me, I love bursts of colour, even though I can't see them,' Manley says. 'To be able to dress in a way that says something about you is so fulfilling, and certainly for me, that's come through the connections that Hair & Care have been able to offer. '[Touch tours] gives you a different viewpoint. Because I've experienced this with Chet Lo – I'll naturally look at his work differently compared to other designers who don't offer a tactile experience. 'And for designers like Chet, it gives him such insight as to how people are 'seeing' his collection in ways that he otherwise may not recognise, because obviously when we're touching things and feeling things, we're having a completely different experience to those who sit by the catwalk and see a model whiz by. Manley notes how touch tours not only make fashion more accessible to those who are visually impaired, but for those who are less read up on the industry as a whole. 'There's so much more appreciation of the detail of his work and the variability of the thread and the shape, and it's just amazing to touch it, because it is not an experience you get just by looking at something.'
The Independent
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Chet Lo brings knitted evening wear to the runway
Chet Lo fashioned his pointed knitwear into evening gowns at London Fashion Week. Known for his avant-garde, textural and tactile designs, the Asian- American designer reinterpreted classical east Asian motifs and incorporated them into his autumn/winter 2025 collection. Lo, decided to 'confront the colonialist Western interpretation of Asian art', reinterpreting chinoiserie patterned fabric through his own perspective. Entitled 'Modern Antiquity', the collection transformed these classical motifs into modern and authentically Asian designs. Lo took striking prints, such as tiger stripes, and distorted them. Alongside animal motifs, Lo took the cherry blossom's floral formation and morphed them into clouds; blurring the boundaries between varying natural forms. As usual, Chet Lo's signature textures dominated the collection, with his iconic merino wool spikes, intricate woven pleating and plush knitted techniques creating 3-dimensional floral patterns through shape as opposed to print. The collection embraced depth and structure through both its fabric, form, and its symbolism. The palette consisted of plum purples, berry reds, muted sage and charcoal greys. While Chet Lo's looks are quintessentially cool, his hooded knitwear, collared jumpers and floral printed ties leant into the preppy knitwear trends of the moment. Lo's Nineties style evening wear stole the show; with slinky open backs and square necklines in Lo's signature pointed wool pouring into the runway. Chet Lo's collection successfully reclaimed the narrative of chinoiserie, turning age-old Western interpretations into powerful modern statements of Asian artistry.
