A new character thickens the plot line for New York- and Shanghai-influenced brand Chan Chit Lo.
Designer and new mother Venus Lo reintroduced herself — along with her baby boy Lucas — in her spring 2024 presentation titled “Cherished Beginnings.”
“It’s about caring, excitement, and it’s all about how to adapt to new parenthood and then together taking care of the responsibility for your next generation,” Lo said on her inspirations. “This is my debut show after having a-year-and a-half break. I wanted to think about what is important to me and what fashion means to me. This time we didn’t do a regular runway show. We did a collaboration with contemporary choreography so they will perform a dance with some of my pieces there. Every item is tailor-made. It’s multifunctional because you have several locations to wear them.”
For the presentation, two gender-bending dancers symbolized the trope of new parenthood in a poetic display of movement, emotion and strength. Acrobatic twists, tense gazes and long-held embraces flooded into pauses for disrobing and styling garments to showcase the utility of the new collection.
Lo’s designs were predominately beige and black to evoke the day-to-night commitment of child-rearing. Geographic plant motifs, like those seen in crocheting and rugs, were a nod to baby’s new crib.
“We made use of the flower for the details for every item. It is functional and decorative and most of the fabric is upcycled,” said Lo. “It’s very one-of-a-kind, I would say, because one man’s trash is another man’s treasure…You can feel the emotions inside it.”
As many designers use their platform to examine the fashion system at large, Lo was no different. Conventionally speaking, a pause on one’s career for having children can be viewed, unfairly, as a setback.
“I feel no matter a mother or father, we need to really appreciate the work done by the housewife and ‘housedad’ because they are working 24/7 nonstop. I wanted to remind us that career is important — but you also need to take care of your family.”
