It’s hard to picture designer Chet Lo anywhere other than London. Born in New York to a Hong Kongese family, Lo relocated to the British capital in 2015 to study at the prestigious Central Saint Martins and never looked back.
“I see London as the epicenter of rebellion,” the designer recently said in a statement. “Here, young designers aren’t afraid to express themselves authentically without caring about what anyone thinks. The fashion industry can feel restrictive at times, but in London, there’s a real sense of freedom.”
After interning at Proenza Schouler and Maison Margiela, Lo graduated from CSM in 2020 with a BA in Knitwear in the middle of COVID-19 lockdowns and, out of necessity, had to set up his own company. First part of the talent incubator Fashion East, Lo moved into London Fashion Week’s main calendar during the spring 2022 season through the British Fashion Council NEWGEN initiative. The program is now at the start of a multi-year partnership with Pull&Bear, which has vowed to provide financial support as well as resources and mentoring for the emerging talent in the NEWGEN roster — though not without mixed reactions.
Featuring his trademark merino wool spikes, Lo’s designs have already been worn by the likes of Chloe Bailey, Raye, Zendaya, Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley, XG, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Heartstopper’s Will Gao, and SZA — among others — but the designer wants to keep pushing the limits of yarn, playing more and more with deconstruction and pleating, both in his own collections and his collaborations, which already span the likes of Rankin, Charles & Keith, Tinder, Hello Kitty, Nordstrom, Pull&Bear, and soon, Converse.
Just days before the unveiling of his fall-winter 2025 collection, Modern Antiquity, at London Fashion Week, Teen Vogue caught up with Chet Lo at Pull&Bear’s Canvas for Creativity pop-up at Selfridges to talk about his trajectory at LFW, materials, and BFC’s newly announced sustainability requirements for NEWGEN.
Teen Vogue: Since September 2022, you’ve been a BFC NEWGEN recipient, which is now sponsored by Pull&Bear. What type of resources and support do you get being a part of NEWGEN now?
Chet Lo: I think NEWGEN is amazing because it allows us to continue having the same show opportunities that we’ve had in the past, but what’s new is that, as well that, with the proper funding they have a lot more capabilities with the show venue and the show curation. So, we [designers] have a lot more. Our possibilities for the show and how it’s created are much bigger. It’s just given us more freedom.
Courtesy of British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN sponsor Pull&Bear
TV: I understand you also get training from NEWGEN and P&B and you get to pick what area you want to tap into more. What area are you most interested in at the moment?
CL: For us, I think it’s factories, because that’s always what is the most difficult thing for us to source and to work with, and to have done properly. That takes a lot of connections, and luckily P&B have the best connections.
