Last week, L’on Studio debuted their collection in a dark compact space with dead leaves strewn all over the floor to mimic the atmosphere of a dead forest. If you haven’t heard of L’on Studio before, it’s okay. You’ve not been living under a rock. Headed by the eighteen-year-old Dimas Tristan Till, L’on Studio is the latest fashion label to join the increasingly saturated industry.
Apart from his young age, Dimas also “never had any formal training, experience, furthermore education in design.” But he is hell-bent in putting his mark in an industry that is turning “dull, boring and outdated”, as mentioned in the press release, where customers are often deceived by cheaply produced clothes with high-end price from big fashion houses.
Such bold claim invites high expectations on the debut. How would Dimas propose to solve the problem above?
As stereotypical as it might be, with his age, Dimas naturally veered towards streetwear and elevated the latter with a focus on luxurious fabrics. The one thing that stood out the most from the collection was that it was a jacket show. Jackets after jackets – really long sleeves in different permutations of materials and techniques – were shown. There was an eye-catching soft snakeskin leather jacket, a structured denim jacket covered in lace, bomber jacket with prints taken from famous paintings like Hieronymus Bosch’s, the list went on. Dimas didn’t seem to know what to do with the lower half of the show.
What he got right was the mood. It was dark and foreboding, which was reflected in the moody palette of the collection. However, this sort of gothic romanticism reminded one too much of Givenchy during Riccardo Tisci’s era.
Not equipped with any formal training in design shouldn’t be a reason to stop someone from getting into the fashion industry. However, it’s clear that Dimas needs to sharpen his skills further because a more concise and succinct collection was what he needed to deliver.
Even if the intended target market is young individuals with inexhaustible income (or allowance), slapping on expensive materials like Swarovski was not enough to justify or command attention. Coupled with the fact that we’re in an era where affluent consumers are gradually spending their money on experience by going on lavish holiday instead of tangible things, new fashion label like L’on Studio needs to quickly establish a clear point of view and what it stands for. And judging from the debut, it was a muddled collection with not much too say except for streetwear in deluxe fabrics.
Dimas certainly got the confidence, and that’s a good thing. What’s left is just the competence to match up with his grand ambition.