WESTMINSTER UNIVERSITY: 2023

DAI YUEYANG

​Cutting Edge Monochrome  F​​ashion Assassins  

SøEdited Team
SøCreative Director: Chris Saint Sims 
​SøFashion Director: Savannah Barthorpe

Westminster University graduation show yet again assassinated on the runway. Its mens designers brought together a range of excellence both in technology and creativity. Over the years and under the guidance of professor Andrew Groves, its fashion department has become one of the most renowned in the fashion and education industry. With a spectacular event, SoEdited chose to break down 4 designers Assassinating this season.

DAI YUEYANG

DAI YUEYANG: @yueyang_dai
Full Metal Dandy. Inspired by black metal music and researching some of the first black metal bands in Norway, metal iconography and satanic symbolism. Dai collected some video data, and explored why many Satanist metal fans usually wear suits and cloaks paying particular attention to the ways they were worn. His silhouette is a reference to the cape of a Norwegian shepherd and is further combined with menswear tropes of the Dandy & the Flâneur. Playing with nails as an iconic symbol, Dai transforms his garments into living sculptures that are visually recognisable within the genre. They are a construction technique to create seams and connect the rich painted and waxed fabrics that make up the collections textural vision. 

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GYUWON BAEK

GYUWON BAEK: @gwbk
DIY 90s. This collection combines the ideas behind modular buildings, stationery and 90’s indie music culture into a six-look capsule collection. Created through the use of classic menswear pieces including the duffle coat and parka.These classics have been de-constructed and re-imagined, reflecting the modular nature of modern-day buildings, materials and colours and made more contemporary through the application of materials such as vinyl and acrylic alongside timeless wools and denims.The silhouettes give a more relaxed, street-wear feel to the collection and the accompanying stationery inspired accessories inspired by and in homage to Judy Blame. 

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YUCHEN YUAN

​YUCHEN YUAN: @littlegrapepip
Clothes of Diabolik. Yuchen Yuan was inspired by iconic 1960’s Italian film, ‘Danger : Diabolik’. Through an exploration of the villain figure in Diabolik,Yuchen played with ideas of duality in classic menswear looks combined with a mysterious muse figure and notions of sexuality and surrealism. The 1960’s silhouettes are exaggerated at certain parts of the body, such as shoulder and chest, to emphasize and present a hypermasculine shape that has always been at the core of her practice. 

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LELE

​LELE: @lelelelelin
Tchotchkes. American slang referring to small shiny objects that’s only decorative and not functional defines the concept of Lele’s collection. Inspired by extravagant visuals from the 1920’s, specifically the photography series ‘bright young thing’ by Cecil Beaton, a world of self-indulgent and extreme elegance, hedonism formed her muse. Characters from the group present themselves wearing extremely fitted tailored suits and ties, glossy hair, juxtaposed with sequin dresses and ruffled shirts challenging menswear identities. Exploring contrast and duality, Lele investigates traditional menswear garments including the trench coat and tailored blazer with elongated silhouettes. In order to evoke the glamour and decadence in a contemporary way, garments are embossed with real pearls and gem necklaces creating Trompe-l’œil effects through techniques developed using vacuum forming technology, then re-embellished over to create a multifaceted look.