Fashion Voyeur

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Categories: Fashion, Models, Uncategorized

Cassey Gan FW19 at London Fashion Week

I discovered Cassey Gan by accident a few seasons ago, one of those happy accidents that you note and seek to repeat on purpose.  I was leaving a runway show at Fashion Scout and exited through a presentation space whilst a presentation was wrapping up, there was hardly anyone in the showspace and the models were occupying the space serenely, holding their poses, faces in bold, sullen model pose.  The pieces themselves were bright and geographic and completely juxtaposing in texture.  I stopped and whipped out my phone, I had the whole space to myself to get up close to the pieces, I remember writing down the name of the designer and deciding to find out exactly who Cassey Gan was.

Since then I’ve made it my mission to get on the list for Cassey Gan’s presentation at Fashion Week, whilst it’s a small presentation of only a few pieces she can definitely pack out a room.  Occupying one of the longer time slots in the presentation show space, Gan’s work is admired from opening to close, unlike that first time I saw her which coincidentally was also her first show at London Fashion Week.  Her work has a definite style and she’s stayed true to that, it’s easy to spot a Cassey Gan piece, the lines, cut and print are easily identifiable, but the textures and the fabrics change with the season.

Drawing inspiration from Tim Braden, Malaysian designer Cassey Gan has dissolved and reassembled her world in her FW19 collection, Pixelated.  Vivid brushstrokes take the form of pattern heavy, non-form fitting garments that reveal a new layer of Gan’s evocative work.  Known for loose fitting silhouettes, original prints, and lightweight textiles, Cassey Gan explores thicker fabrics for the first time.  Her colour palette of blues, olives, maroons and mustards build on the collection alongside wool and padded fabrics, furthering Gan’s textured approach to her luxurious FW19 pieces.

The collection uses innovative shapes and heavy layering as with Gan’s previous collections, but shifts between representation and abstraction as if to hint at something new.  Comfort and style are of equal importance for the label aiming for a timeless modern appeal, Pixelated will focus on metaphor and craftsmanship to achieve the collection’s goals.  Influenced also by the impossible pace of the fashion industry and the inevitable changes rooted in the digital age, Gan harnesses her frustration at the speed which designers must now work, into a furious, and interconnected collection. Drawing from the incomplete and elided images of the collection’s verbal namesake, Pixelated comments on the love / hate paradox Gan sees in contemporary fashion. As speed increases, precision sometimes falters, leaving Cassey Gan’s Pixelated to recombine the pieces into a meaningful statement about the contemporary moment.

It’s a definite evolution for Cassey Gan, it’s a new shape, it feels more whole, like more of a collection and a more fruitful vision.  What started off as a group of pieces and shapes, feels like it grew up and moved on, like it reached it’s teenage years and is deciding what it wants to be when it grows up.  That’s as simple as it needs to be for these shows and is often all it takes for a designer to make things happen in the fickle world of fashion.  In short, put your head in the game, know your style and graft.

Solo Model at the Cassey Gan FW19 presentation at Fashion Scout for London Fashion Week Fashion Voyeur blog by Pixie Tenenbaum

I’d love to see more from Cassey Gan, and eventually a runway show in the vestibule of Freemason’s Hall, the pieces and the inspiration is there, the vision is there, the progress is definitely there.  In just a few short seasons this young designer has come a long way, she’s one I look for on the schedule and if I’m around I’ll be there watching, seeing how she’s grown.  Definitely a one I watch with curiosity and interest.

Pixie

Categories: Fashion

Cassey Gan FW18 at London Fashion Week

As one of Vogue Italia’s “Future generation of talent”, Malaysian born Cassey Gan’s FW18 presentation was hotly anticipated at London Fashion Week.  In fact, her graduate collection was one of just twenty five womenswear collections selected by London College of Fashion for its external press show in 2012 – not bad for someone who began her higher education reading Chemical Engineering.

A shot of the crowd in Freemason's Hall at Holborn for the Cassey Gan FW18 presentation at London Fashion Week

If you read my post on the Kristel Kuslapuu FW18 presentation at Fashion Scout, you’ll know that my top tip is to head in around 15 minutes before close for the best views and angles of the collections, not the case with Cassey Gan.  The interest for Gan’s FW18 collection was peak and even right up to close, the hall was pretty much full.  Gan’s collection is pure, clean and striking.  She plays with dimensions which challenge the perception of each individual garment, whether it’s an offset shoulder, or an asymmetric cut that isn’t quite obvious at first glance, the collection seeks to challenge our self perception.  The presentation itself was a lot easier to navigate than some of the others, despite being static, the models used the stage and raised blocks in the room to ensure that even if you weren’t right up close, you still got a decent view of the garments.  Or at least the top half of them.

When creating her FW18 collection, Gan explored how social media has caused society to create almost fictional versions of ourselves in the pursuit of perfection.  As beauty standards become more pronounced and culturally accepted, the line between fiction and reality becomes blurred and we tend to forget our true selves, constantly self editing until the line between truth and untruth is no longer detectable.

In addition, Gan also considered the works of Maria Svarbova when developing her concise collection – where a seemingly picturesque utopia is juxtaposed by the dullness of Svarbova’s subjects – Gan used the visual aspects of these pictures as a direct reference in her choice of print and textile.  With repetition as the common denominator, ripple patterns cascade the collection in pastel blues with accent hues of tomato red.  Detachable layers held together by gold metal fixtures also give a nod to art deco.

With the macro trend for clashing prints showing no signs of abating, Gan has taken this to the next level by combining multiple prints in one garment.  The collection seems rooted in style over fashion by using classic layering, wearable and interesting accessories and bold primary colours as it’s M.O. and it’s one that will no doubt be plagiarised by high street stores who have a hand in their own print design.  It’s only a matter of time before Zara are passing these striking yet wearable prints off as their own.

Pixie

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