Daydreamer, whimsical, colourful.

Designer: Alex S Yu / London-Vancouver-Taipei
alexsyu.com / @alex.s.yu

“It’s an outlet for us to escape reality for a moment. You can put on a dress and feel like you’re a different person, or you can put on a coat and feel like a million dollars. I love that a piece of garment can have this strange and magnificent effect on people.”

 

What inspires you?
Everything. I don’t limit myself to be inspired by any specific thing, I tend to keep an open mind. However, I find that I tend to gravitate towards pop culture and contemporary arts.

Who inspires you?
Rei Kawakubo, Alber Elbaz, Raf Simons, Miuccia Prada

How will you describe your “moment of glory” as a chief designer?
I would say I haven’t experienced it yet given I’ve only started my label for a year, but if I had to choose a moment from the past year, probably the moment that I found out my collection will be featured on Vogue UK.

How would you describe your brand?
Definitely very playful, colorful, whimsical and a mix of sporty and girly. I play with proportions, shapes and colors and experimental materials, but at the same time, I try to keep the garments wearable.

What are the themes of your Autumn/Winter Collection?
The AW2015 collection is titled THE SWEET SIXTEEN.

 

The collection finds inspiration in the often capricious teenage angst and the cult movie “Mean Girls.” The overly mature and sexy appeal of pop culture and its pin-ups, it-girls and media darlings intrigues and inspires me to design in a reverse state of mind. The central and core idea of this collection is that women do not need to expose and elaborate their bodies to be considered beautiful, appealing and sexy.Women should dress for themselves and whatever they feel good in, instead of dressing to impress or amend to the so-called mass appeal. I find that teenage girls all over the world, especially visible in social medias such as Facebook, Instagram and other online platforms, are dressing more and more revealing and provocative. One of the biggest reasons, he believes, is the result of the media and general public’s obsessions with “sexy” celebrities and stars. The way they dress heavily affect how the general public, especially teenage girls, regard the word, beautiful. They feel that, in order to be considered beautiful or even merely acceptable, they have to dress sexy and reveal their bodies just like their idols and role models.

“I believe that teenage girls should be able to retain their innocence and naivety and dress according to what they want, not what they think how others would perceive them as beautiful. “

 

How would you describe people who love your design?
Someone who loves to be different, loves fashion and loves to have some fun in their lives.

Pick your favorite piece from your Fall/Winter Collection.
It really is difficult to pick a favorite piece when you hand make from scratch every single look. However, if I had to pick, I would probably pick the opening neoprene coat with giant ruffles. The reason is because it was more a of spontaneous piece, I did not have a sketch for that look at all, however, as I was cutting, I just started thinking, “What if I did this?” Then I spent the next four hours making the coat, and Voila! I really loved the end result. I guess it’s my favorite because it shows that sometimes being spontaneous and letting yourself get a little off track and crazy can yield a good result.

If you are granted one wish, what will that be?
To have enough funds to run the company and do whatever I want.

The best part about your job is…

Being able to do what I love. Let my daydreams, imaginations and creativity run wild, but still be able to create something tangible out of it.

9 Quick Fire Questions

ITEMS FROM MY CLOSET I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: My Issey Miyake Homme Pleats trousers.

TRENDS TO TRY: Loud prints and bold colours

TRENDS TO AVOID: Bohemian chic. It’s very early 2000’s and it’s just getting overdone with all the “music festival looks”

YOUR FASHION STAPLES ARE: A well-made good quality tee shirt, a worn in denim jacket and a pair of nice black trousers.

WORST WARDROBE FAILURE: Yoga pants worn outside of your yoga classroom, UGG boots, velour track suits

BEST OUTFIT: Lots of layers, lots of colours, yet still be able to make it work beautifully, think Susie Bubble.

LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS: “When am I ever going to finish this look.. when am I ever going to go to bed…”

STRESS RELIEF STRATEGY: Listen to music, LOUD, play with my puppy, Marni, or just drive to the beach to sit and stare and let my mind go blank.

FAVOURITE QUOTE:

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”- Dr Seuss

 


About the brand
ALEX S. YU creates colourful and minimal garments that explore the fine line between reality and fantasy. His aesthetics rollick the happy emotions of childhood, nostalgia and wanderlust; and ponder the very definition of femininity in a modern, quirky way through garments. He is trained at Blanche Macdonald Centre in Vancouver and then furthered his education at the prestigious London College of Fashion in the United Kingdoms. The ALEX S. YU girl loves to have fun, and isn’t afraid of trying new things. She loves color, prints, quirky shapes and experimental textures. The ALEX S. YU girl is eccentric, lively, nonchalant and views life through a pair of rose-tinted glasses. ALEX S. YU creates a line of contemporary luxury streets wear that is ready-to-wear with a twist of avant-garde experimental attitude. He plays with proportions, color blockings and unusual silhouettes while mixing and using materials that are usually not developed for traditional garment making with comfortable, human friendly materials. ALEX S. YU is made with dream and love