The 2022 Spring/Summer collection of Louis Shengtao Chen, entitled “Romance Anónimo” is an invitation to embark on a fantastical journey, tasked with a sole mission in the search for “love”, capitalized LOVE, that is both within us, amongst us, above us and beyond us. Louis Shengtao Chen derives his 2022 Spring/Summer collection from his own personal fantasies: a universe full of passion, power, sensuality, heat, and creativity. In the journey of exploration, we are searching for a pure feeling, of the love that burns, blurs, complicates, accelerates, accentuates, illuminates, and encapsulates. The collection is divided into 3 chapters: La Nuit, Le Jour, Le Rêve. Awake in the night, arise in the day, and sublimes in the dream.
It’s a world where angels and demons, light and darkness intertwine into a beautiful chaos. Blood-eyed angels, rabbits, pangolins, blowfish growing wings, turning into god-like figures, mysteriously familiar. These figures appear as the mystical animals of the season, guiding us through the journey of the collection.
Sharp tailoring military jackets are paired with painters trousers, featuring silhouettes of La Belle Epoque and reminiscing of the golden yore. Louis Shengtao Chen carries on his ultimate design language of romance, featuring an array of dresses that encapsulates his very own design philosophy. Large rounded floral pedals turned into neck-lines for lingerie inspired dresses; silver-plated leaf pedals scatter around a see-through lace dress, as if stars had fallen from the sky. Looks are completed with a 3-D printed silver and golden scarf ornament, surreal and sculptural, like goddesses locked in the plaster of time. Overlay-ed lace tops featuring cashmere cotton ankle-length skirting; chiffon overdress embroidered with logo-ed star sequins; Cupid-printed scarf drapes out on single sides of military-formal evening dresses; the collection is extremely feminine, outspokenly masculine, immaculately elegant, and dreamily fluid.
The four-angled star logo motif of Louis Shengtao Chen is glorified, maximized and vitalized through a diverse presentation across the collection: in cashmere embroideries on dresses, in Savile-rowed lining of tailor wear, in the cut-outs of skirt draping, or in glittery sequins on evening capes. A special “Cupid” figure is designed with the face of the designer himself, and utilized across the collection in prints and linings, symbolizing his playful existence in his creations. The brand’s classic “Cone Bag” is carried on in a denim-like canvas material, paired with leather straps across the body, giving it an urbanely touch. The words “Adrian’s Angel”, as tattooed on designer Louis Shengtao Chen’s chest, is written on the bag, giving it an intimate touch.
In the 2022 Spring/Summer collection, Louis Shengtao Chen extends his collaboration with Chinese cashmere house Sandriver, using the Maison’s expertise and craftsmanship in cashmere processing to create a fantastical rabbit motif across dresses, skirts and cardigans. The luxurious material is met with the designer’s outer-worldly imagination, giving this traditional craft a new life in the contemporary design aesthetic. Meanwhile, a special collaboration with Chinese accessories label Atelier Só is announced through the collection, creating 2 models of specially designed eyewear and a series of pendants featuring a melted four-angled star, centered with a velvet fabric core. The eyewear collection speaks a strong and urban design language, fusing metallic materials, sharply cut lens and modern silhouettes to clash with the more romantic and classical shapes of ready-to-wear. Louis Shengtao Chen also continues the collaboration with footwear brand Nφdress for the collection, launching 6 styles of shoes, including velvet lace-up platformed roman sandals, lace-up pumps with floral pedal embellishment and evening heels with tip-toed lining.
“The love I want to express, is not just of humans. It’s trans-human, trans-species. It’s love of objects, of planets, of spirits, of souls. Tangible and intangible, sometimes crazy, sometimes serene. I always want my clothes to carry my emotions throughout. So it’s always extremely personal, yet universal”. — Louis Shengtao Chen
Love, makes you crazy, keeps you rational. It turns us into someone else, someone bigger. It clarifies chaos, it gives emptiness logic. It is an eternal topic of the universe, full of extremes and dualities. Love, is the source of pleasure, pain, thoughts and serenity. We hereby present you, and hope you would join us on this eternal journey, and roam in the world of Louis Shengtao Chen.