Sean Suen’s spring narrative chronicled a person falling asleep and finding themselves looped into samsara, the Buddhist cycle of life, death and rebirths.
There was symbolism aplenty behind the black and white palette, the messages calligraphed throughout the lineup — “world peace” and “get rich,” as a metaphor for salvation and perdition — or the silver bells and the red spider lilies adornments courtesy of a collaboration with Italy-based Chinese jewelry label Zhongwei.
But even without them, his designs stood strong. To wit, the fitted black leather blazer that opened the show was followed up with boxy drop-shouldered jackets that crossed over in a nod to traditional Chinese cuts; collarless tunics that flowed long and loose; roomy trousers that straddled the divide between casual and dressy.
To materialize the mental confusion of tracking back to wakefulness, Suen said he played on layers in the latter half of his show, but here too, he finessed them to remained attractively legible.
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Pulling them apart turned up plenty of smart options but also a more sensual direction with cropped jackets baring the midriff and short shorts showing plenty of leg. Thigh-high boots were among the footwear options.
Despite Suen’s proclivity for inspirations found in dreamscapes and legends, these showed that when it comes to discerning what’s going on in the menswear space, Suen’s wide awake.