After an eight-year absence, Kay Kwok returned to London Fashion Week last season as KWK by KAYKWOK and has just been showcased again for SS23. This season magnified his ideas and focus on gamification, online engagement and community development inside the metaverse. The brand recognises it is all centred on digitalization.
With such in mind, KWK emphasises the concept of integrating 3D printing onto massive body forms that are highlighted by candy-like colours. Prints with dramatic forms predominate, with a strong nod to gender freedom and self-expression.
Kay Kwok launched his collection at London Fashion Week in 2013 to tremendous acclaim and is recognised for his futuristic and modern menswear. He was born in Hong Kong and attended Hong Kong Polytechnic before enrolling in the London College of Fashion. During this period, he worked as an intern for Alexander McQueen. His graduating collection won first place in Mittelmoda, an international fashion competition, making him the first Chinese fashion designer to do it in 20 years.
Kay started sketching this SS23 collection before the last line debuted on the catwalk in February; as a designer and creative, his energy is limitless, and his ideas never cease. Kwok’s worldview is focused on charity, giving back, extending ideas, and directing the audience toward the possibility of all-inclusive love. Setting aside traditional beauty standards, KWK by KAYKWOK reveals the unseen, provides a platform for the unheard, and provides a space for individuality to appreciate all that we are as beautiful, chaotic, contradictory, and difficult humans.
“You need a good team to make everything efficient and you have to try very hard to ensure things are on the right track – the problem-solving ability matters the most when putting together a line” – Kay Kwok.
Photography by Chris Yates