Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Loekito.
“Why should I make clothes just for a specific gender?” wonders British-Indonesian designer Jacqueline Loekito. “The creating process is way more fun when you know the design could fit for anyone!” This remark, playful yet rebellious, neatly encapsulates Loekito’s style. All designed in varying shades of pink, from palest floss to rose, candy to magenta—“of course pink can be punk!” Loekito exclaims—the London-based designer’s gender non-conforming AW19 collection makes for a striking statement.
It is not often that clothing exudes a sense of love, but Loekito’s creations pulsate with sensitivity and care. This is a collection driven by love in the truest sense—following the loss of her close friend Viviane Zitzer from cancer, Loekito saw the design process as an opportunity for reflection and a chance to creatively work through her grief. “It was very fluid and also a healing process for me,” she explains, “knowing her was a real pleasure, she was larger than life and a real inspiration.” In her honour, Loekito called her latest collection Viviane’s Last Kiss.
“Larger than life” seems to be a recurring theme throughout Loekito’s work, as the designer continues to defy conventional tailoring and proportions. From a bright pink jumper, hand-knitted with enormously chunky stitches, to an oversized “fuck cancer” sweatshirt which dangles just above your ankles, Loekito revels in excess.
“I wish that people had a bigger perception on what they can wear,” muses Loekito on the avant garde nature of her designs. For the designer, what matters most, is personality. “Any individual that wears my pieces excites me very much, especially when they wear it with a lot of sassiness!”
See more from Jacqueline Loekito’s collection Viviane’s Last Kiss below:
All photographs courtesy of Jacqueline Loekito.