The Tide is High

Today my feet felt like they were going to snap off from the crunchy numbing cold.  Maybe it was down to the late afternoon spent trudging through icy Hyde Park and then standing in the tiers of the Emirates, urging Arsenal to “PRESSSSSSSS!”  As January rumbles around, I’ve needed to dress up up up in order to motivate myself out of a soporific couch-potato stupor that involves far too many Kettle Chips and hours on Netflix.  Lately, Ryan Lo‘s cheery winter warmers including a Steiff-lined polka dotty jacket and a scarf that reads “LOVE” (a neutral scarf suitable for supporting any football team) have been drowning out any notion that the skies might be grey and that the air might be below zero.  The unabashedly fem-fem colours and array of cuddly toy textures alone ups the temperature by at least a few degrees.

Wearing Ryan Lo jacket, skirt and “Love” scarf, Prada jumper, Bernstock Speirs hat, Converse and Kenzo bag

I thought I’d take this opportunity to congratulate Lo on his impending first solo show at February’s London Fashion Week under the New Gen sponsorship scheme.  Some of you may or may not know that I’ve written Lo’s show press notes for the past few seasons and so have had that extra bit of insight into the oddball yet kawaii sources of inspiration in Lo’s collections.   As I huddle up at home next to the radiator and under two blankets, nursing my crunchily numb feet, it’s hard not to look forward to Lo’s tropical luau that blends references to the hilarious fruity bitches in Muriel’s Wedding with the Hawaiian japes of Japanese anime character Chibi Maruko Chan (both the film and the anime got a rewatch during the Christmas period).  When you throw in the reggae vibes Blondie’s The Tide is High with the tacky rave of Cantopop hit All New Summer Holiday by Joey Yeung, you once again get an unexpected combustion of some universally loved moments of girliness and Lo’s obscure nods to his Hong Kong upbringing.   Lo has spent a few seasons expressing his little love stories through pastel shades, tulle rosettes and lurex-flecked yarn in mise-en-scene tableau presentations.   In a solo show, the spotlight on the self-taught Lo will be bigger and the stakes higher and that will be exciting to see.