Photos by Pablo Di Prima.
When Daisy Yu applied for the LVMH Graduate Prize on a sunny day last summer while a third year BA student at Central Saint Martins, she was not expecting to win. When the news arrived that her application had, in fact, been successful, the 26-year-old was stunned. She swiftly relocated to Paris to take on a one-year contract as Assistant Designer at Louis Vuitton and had to get used to her newfound media attention.
But what happened in between was just as exciting: Yu’s graduate collection—an extraordinary tour de force of flow-y silhouettes and bright colours, striking a balance between boldness and elegance at once. “It is fluid and powerful,” Yu tells SLEEK about her collection. One of the statement pieces, a green leather suit with formidable billowing sleeves accented with long stripes of pink leather woven into its structure, exemplifies this dichotomy. The overall effect is bizarrely sensual: with its extra-long trails of pink leather fringe, the two-piece is reminiscent of a rare plant, or some wondrous sea creature. “Power for me means confidence and comfort, but also something elusive, something that can not be defined,” Yu comments.
What is striking about Yu’s collection is its majestic silhouettes, which are elongated, body-hugging and asymmetrical. There are lengthy pleats and voluminous sleeves, protruding, broad shoulders and stern high collars. Then, the extraordinary colours: a floor-sweeping white cape is bedecked with red, blue, purple and yellow feather-like details, a pleated skirt is irresistibly buoyant in lilac and yellow; boots are made of a motley array of colourful leather petals that are bound to spawn some folkloric associations. Remarkably, the colour combinations in Yu’s collection are anything but planned. Committed to sustainable design, she uses leather scraps which means she has to challenge herself to make some random colours “work”—as she puts it. This so-called “patchwork method” epitomises Yu’s attitude to sustainability: “For me it’s about maximising a material’s potential,” says the designer. “Fully utilising it and minimising waste, always being conscious of a material’s origins and its potential impact on the environment.”
To connect these pieces of leather, Yu weaves them together in a technique that is both practical and aesthetically appealing, inspired by a traditional Chinese braiding method. In fact, the graduation collection itself, according to Yu, is a reflection of her identity. Born in Rotterdam, Yu grew up in Shanghai and Beijing, before moving to Chicago to study art after high school, eventually deciding to switch to fashion which brought her to London’s CSM. “While working on that collection I was looking back at all the contrasting cultural influences that have formed me. I tried to understand how I perceive things and why,” Yu says.
Had she not become a designer, Yu admits that she would have loved to have been a psychologist—for her the human psyche is the most intriguing thing of all. Unsurprisingly, then, what she appreciates most about making clothes is an opportunity to tell stories. While colour, shape and texture are all important, what truly interests the designer are the deeper narratives behind the clothes. “A garment with a history has more essence. There are so many beautiful, over-embellished things out there, but in the end it is storytelling that adds an additional layer of meaning to fashion.” Of course, she loves thrift and second hand shops where each garment has a past and possesses a sense of hidden mystery.
Three months into her one-year contract with Louis Vuitton, Yu says she is exploring “a more arty” approach to design, taking cues from artist friends and “looking at photography”. How the designer will blend it with her focus on sustainability is something exciting and very relevant in an industry that is finally starting to acknowledge its environmentally-damaging ways.
All photos by Pablo Di Prima. Make-up by Hattie Rees.