Series No. 20
With this new Series No. 20, I wanted to create a collection that celebrates pattern, color, freshness, life. To encourage and inspire us to venture into the world, to embrace the spontaneous, the fleeting, the unexpected - looking fabulous, all the while.
When designing, I’m always considering how one feels in the clothing. Fabric has an essential role in this, as varying tactile sensations evoke different emotions. The way a material engages the body, how it sounds when we move, its texture - all these elements effect our mood.
Series No. 20 renders some of my signature designs in new fabrics, thereby giving them entirely new lives.
A new material that I’ve fallen deeply for is the Japanese-made Typewriter cotton. A fine and dense-weave poplin, it has an innate crispness, almost paper-like, that imparts dramatic and structured volumes. Typewriter cotton appears bright and fresh, almost floating off your body, a cloud of fabric - the perfect, luxurious summer material.
Another textile that I found utterly inspiring is Dupioni silk in black & white gingham. Dupioni also has a structured quality that makes it hold space in slight defiance of gravity. And its distinct weave creates a marvelous, lustrous surface.
Silk Charmeuse, by contrast, is soft, almost liquid across the body, creating a more sexy, sensual, and tender mood. It is enveloping, swaddling, with a petal-like texture.
These different fabrics match well and highlight each other’s virtues. And they are all excellent for travel - easy to pack, easy to wear, and wrinkle resistant. While practical, they are fun to wear - light and beautiful throughout the changing landscape of travel. But most importantly, they make you feel beautiful.
In sync with this, the intention of Series No. 20 also focuses on proportion - how design according to the Golden Ratio both pleases the eye and feels good on the body. This mathematical balance allows me to construct with simplicity, purity of form, harmony. The result is elevating - it makes us look beautifully balanced in all circumstances, enhancing how we feel. In short, it frees us.
Later this month, I will travel back to London, a place very dear to me, where I spent my student days studying math. I will bring pieces from Series No. 20, taking my new creations out in the field - in a sense, giving them life. What will you be wearing as you create the stories of your summer…?
xx
Lan
Shop Series No. 20