Lu’u Dan Spring 2024 Menswear Collection

Hung La, the designer behind Lu’u Dan (which means “dangerous man” in Vietnamese), is hitting it big. On Met Gala Monday in May, Billie Eilish garnered traction online for wearing one of La’s hyper-graphic anoraks to an after-party. Today, he nabbed the cover of GQ Hype, a splinter of our brother magazine that covers “the stories of the moment.” Judging by his new spring collection, shown this afternoon in Paris, the forward momentum is justified.

Lu’u Dan’s repertoire has the visual subtlety of a wound from a snake bite–but that’s just the way La wants it. He’s more interested in villains than heroes, and is drawn to defiance. He openly rejects coded wardrobe standards, and he is outspoken about Asian representation (or the lack thereof) in fashion (La is Vietnamese-American).

For spring, La’s sense of refusal added up to a medley of pieces that, while initially looking disparate, gelled well. He cut his teeth–or sharpened his blade–with tenures at Balenciaga and Celine. He knows what he’s doing.

An outsize silken shirt, in neon sign red, featured an emblazoned phoenix down the placket. “Have you ever been to a huge Asian wedding?” He asked. “We like to make these sort of sculptures out of fruit, for the table. The phoenix is popular.” So: something familial, turned fiery. Another standout series came in the form of Tobizubon pants, which are worn by tobi shokunin–construction workers in Japan. In La’s hands, the shape–broken extra large and curving wide down the leg–was given paint splatters and marbleized distresses and outseams boasting a repeated house logo, the double-headed snake. Airbrushed typeface motifs, custom studded and painted leather jackets and XXXL denim shirts added mettle to the medley.

The highlight, though, was a perfecto leather trench coat. Fresh and a little weird yet super wearable, it was imbued with just the right amount of reference and intelligent iconoclasm. There are even bigger things ahead for La.