Dressed to the Sixes

Hong Kong-based designer Six Lee’s new collections feature an overall idea of layering.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Six Lee hopes that his avant-garde fashions will one day go from being the darling of fashion editorial pages to gracing the wardrobe of its editors, he tells Rebecca Lo.

Whotel Hong Kong's fifth anniversary bash started with a bang. Topless male dancers showed off their fine physiques in a range of contemporary dance move. The performance was followed by a highly anticipated runway debut by one of Hong Kong's brightest young fashion talents.

With Eurasian model Raven Tao as the master of ceremonies, a procession of women sporting custom W T-shirts sauntered down the catwalk. Designed by Hong Kong-based Six Lee for his eponymous label, the simple silhouette was embellished with a large W in a contrasting color along the front neckline.

The show continued with Lee's collection of menswear from his Fall/Winter 2013 line, followed by Spring/Summer 2014. It was his first professional show in Asia and the wild enthusiasm from his audience indicated a hit collection.

Impeccable tailoring, bold patterns and a whiff of Sherlock Holmes made the Fall/Winter collection memorable. Lee's fondness for layering resulted in a tension between fashion and costume that only extremely confident men could carry off successfully.

Lee admits that his clothes are not for everyone. "My style is too extreme for Italy and not extreme enough for London," he says. "I prefer to show in Paris. I feel my collection is more European in styling, but Asians seem to like it more than Europeans.

"It's really difficult to predict what will sell well. I struggle constantly with the balance between commercial and conceptual design. How do I make something desirable to editors? Not just for their magazine pages but so that editors would covet the garments and include them in their wardrobe."

The Hong Kong native has always loved drawing, but he was not strong academically. "I couldn't continue with my education and I didn't know what I wanted to do for a career," he recalls.