London Fashion Week has come and gone, meaning now you get to hear me rant about it, unprovoked. This season marked my first time attending a few shows by means of this blog, rather than other connections or work. So the first thing to say is 'thank you' to you, Dear Reader, for following along and helping this blog get off the ground. Naturally, it is early days, but I have faith that we are only just getting started and we can only snowball from here. I look forward to continuing to share my insights into industry events and fashion shows as we move forward with the 'Rogue' brand.
Today, we are discussing the first show I attended during this LFW, Hu Bing Selects: Consistence. So let's get right into it...
Who Is Hu Bing?
Hu Bing is a Chinese icon, known predominantly as a supermodel, actor, singer, designer and producer. Having worked in fashion, film and TV for 30 years, Hu is a cultural icon. With a huge following of 13 million on Weibo and 5 million on Douyin, he has massive reach and international attention. He is well-known for his dedication to bridging Western and Eastern fashion cultures, which has had a huge impact on the fashion industry, particularly due to his passion for championing young and emerging designers - especially those from China.
He work in the fashion industry and history of supporting new, innovative talent has put him in a position of influence, being appointed International Ambassador for the British Fashion Council (BFC) 9 years ago. He continues to work closely with the BFC and connects young, emerging designers with the platform of LFW. Not to mention, he has a fabulous sense of personal style.
What is 'Hu Bing Selects'?
This new, innovative fashion show - under name Hu Bing Selects - is an initiative in which Hu carefully selects an emerging/undiscovered talent that he feels deserves a larger platform and allows them to present a collection under his promotion on the official LFW schedule. This is something that is new this season, but is promised to be a staple on the London schedule for the foreseeable future, with the opportunity being presented to a different designer each season.
The goal is to showcase innovation and help bring in the future of fashion. This season, Spring/Summer 25, Hu Bing selected the Chinese led brand 'Consistence' to be featured on the LFW official programme as the first show of this series. Hu has a history with the designers of Consistence which dates back all the way to London Fashion Week 10 years ago, where they met in a showroom.
An introduction to Consistence:
Consistence is a small fashion brand founded in 2013 by married Chinese couple: Tien Lu and Fang Fang. They are highly skilled in tailoring and until this season have only showcased menswear, demonstrating a great eye and attention to detail in creating classic formal garments with a subtle twist. The ambition with their brand is to focus heavily on sustainability and completely limit their waste, whilst still offering their clients a high fashion, luxurious product. The brand built up popularity in China very quickly, with celebrities sporting their pieces since 2015.
Tien and Fang graduated from Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion, so are both familiar with the London fashion scene and likely found a lot of their inspiration from the cultures they discovered in their time in education here. The couple have always collaborated closely on each collection, with Fang Fang being the muse as well as the designer, and it is said that nothing reaches the runway if she doesn't love it. Although Fang is integral in curating the brands' aesthetic, it is truly a joint effort and all the work they produce must resonate with the both of them.
A deep dive into the 'Consistence' brand:
The couple are absolutely committed to sustainability, which remains at the heart of their craft, by repurposing old scraps of fabric and other waste to create new accessories in current collections: things like gloves, scarves and bags. They further this initiative by encouraging their consumers to 'buy less, choose better', hoping that the impact of their mission goes beyond just their current clientele.
After meeting Hu Bing at LFW 10 years ago, he took the duo under his wing, becoming a sort of mentor to them. Over the years, they have worked closely together - with Hu walking in all of their major runway shows - and have been lucky enough to debut in Milan, Paris and Shanghai thanks to Hu's support. Beyond this, Hu helped them secure a spot during Milan Fashion Week in the AW17 season, where they showcased a collection sponsored by Giorgio Armani, which Hu Bing walked in.
A few standout looks that I enjoyed or that seemed to come up often when looking into the previous collections of Consistence included backless formal waistcoats, classic trenches with a modern design feature, a basic black and brown colour palette and cool motifs like loose/large fishnet. Overall, they really have the classic tailoring with a unique, eye-catching twist nailed. I see a little hint of Toteme in the way they combine the modern, sleek look and formal wear.
The SS25 Show: Useless But Fabulous
This show was the brands first ever womenswear collection, which they designed, created and presented in only 88 days! They titled it 'Useless But Fabulous' and intended to spotlight hidden garments elements with a modern twist. Tien and fang used their menswear expertise to create this collection so it felt synonymous with their brand and maintained the same quality, even in this new venture and style for them.
The duo's signature tailoring was a huge part of this show, but rather than being hidden on the inside of their pieces, the intricate and integral design elements of their menswear looks were given the spotlight as the external, visible features of the looks. They used horsehair canvas (usually seen as a lining in tailoring) on the outside of garments, showcasing the work that goes into menswear and tailoring that we never get to see as its hidden. Even though the collection was very revealing at times, very fun and modern, they still maintained their classic tailoring and formalwear elements and practises.
They used fabrics from Scabal - a tailor on Saville Row whom the designers wanted to credit hugely for the success of this collection - including fabric infused with 24 carat gold as well as fluorescent yellow and pink wool which is a huge revolution in fabric dyeing. These materials allowed Tien and Fang to create something totally unique and push themselves in a direction that they hadn't previously attempted.
The show was held at 180 Studios which also hosted a variety of other runway shows during LFW this season including Chet Lo, Di Petsa, Masha Popova and HARRI. It was a 7:00pm show on Thursday, right before Harris Reed, so essentially it opened up the entire fashion week. The budget was relatively low, so the show was basic, no theme or set besides the central white cube around which benches were set for 400 guests - which I didn't mind at all as it allowed all the focus to be on the looks. The whole environment, with moderate white lighting and this set felt very brutalist.
The show exclusively used Florasis products for makeup, which was designed and executed by Yong-Chin Breslin (who you may know from Glow Up season 4) and her team. The creative production was done by Blonstein.
Time for my thoughts:
Starting off with my absolute favourite look: this mens look - which was shown slightly differently in both black and camel - took on the apron concept and turned it into a sort of dungaree piece. These were styled with nothing underneath, so they were completely backless, which was so slouchy and effortless, yet simultaneously sexy and utilitarian. I adored it and absolutely need one for myself. To that same point, a lot of this collection felt very utilitarian throughout, with cargo-style pockets, chunky buckles and basic, simple structure. I do feel that the collection, though it was labelled as womenswear, did a great job of bending gender. It felt very universal and 90% of the looks seemed genderless. Another show from this LFW season that felt similar was the Burberry collection, in terms of the colour palette and utilitarian vibes (pockets/fastenings).
I didn't enjoy the pink looks, as they seemed very knock-off-Valentino, except the look above with the hot pink as is was fun, sparkly and didn't try to be something that it never could look good as (like the blazers and pants) and took a great stance as something a little more funky, sexy, risky and playful. The wrap around scarf/bra situation was really exciting to me. Similarly, the yellow looks didn't resonate with me at all - regardless of the skill needed to work with these wool fabrics - as they just came across very cheap; I wouldn't be at all shocked to learn that they had been purchased off of Shein and thrown into the mix. Now, the colour story involved lots of blacks and browns as always from Consistence, but like them or not, the addition of the pinks and yellows felt very London and very new for this brand.
Back to the positives, they absolutely NAILED the relaxed, oversized pant and jacket 'suit' look, which fit and flowed perfectly - which we know is very hard to achieve, after 2023's oversized blazer epidemic - with perhaps my favourite example being Hu Bing's look: this was awesome, a flowy, relaxed pinstripe suit, with that driving idea of the apron weaved both over and underneath it, creating a really beautifully rich layering effect with depth. Beyond this look, the apron theme was the starting point for the collection and was revisited several times and done playfully in unique ways, all of which I enjoyed. They took this idea and added their insights into tailoring and formal menswear to it, creating something that is both familiar and brand new and unexpected.
To be honest, at points this collection seemed a little confused to me: the kitten heeled flip flops screamed confusion and the scrap-fabric-turned-gloves were thrown onto long sleeved looks, both of which seemed overwhelming, forced and generally disjointed. The outerwear around the middle of the collection seemed to be a little flimsy and unstructured to me; perhaps this was intentional, as the collection was reversing what we normally see on the outside of a garment, with what is actually going on on the inside of the piece? Either way, it didn't appeal to me.
Another favourite look of mine was this grey skirt suit combo, with a white heeled boot; the skirt had a central slit which somehow looked super edgy and cool, meanwhile the jacket was cropped and also cargo pocketed which I usually hate but a didn't with this look? Maybe the pair's skills in menswear and tailoring give them an upper hand when creating these kinds of looks for womenswear. This was also present in their take on button down shirts for women, which were beautiful. There was a grey shirt towards the end of the collection - part of an all grey look I'll add below - that was slightly sheer, perfectly fitted but still incredibly natural and flowy, which felt trendy with its cargo pockets but also absolutely timeless. I got a sort of MM6 margiela vibe from these shirts.
There was a theme of loose fishnet detailing throughout, sometimes it manifested as a second skirt layered over a slightly shorter opaque one, sometimes it was placed over the lapels of a jacket, sometimes it was in place of any top only covered by a trench coat. Another detail I enjoyed was the metallic bag, an idea that was super cool but didn't match the collection at all. In another context I think the bag could be a major hit.
They rounded out the show with a children's look, with a sweet kid who walked alongside Hu bing - I think the kid's look was cute and playful, super fashionable but still makes sense on a young child.
The theme of this show was 'useless but fabulous' but to be honest it seemed that all the features and key elements of this show were important if not vital parts of garments that keep them together, not at all useless. Potentially, 'useless' refers to the way they were presented? And in terms of fabulous, I have to admit that I just didn't see it. All in all, this collection was fun and technically exquisite, but I wasn't compelled to stand up and applaud afterwards. If I had to describe this presentation in a few words, I would honestly say that it seemed to me to be 'a high fashion take on gorpcore'.
Models and Music:
Casting was done by Luka Dijan, who has experience casting models for Valentino and KWK, He did a good job on this show with some interesting looks every now and then, but I would have loved to see some more Chinese talent showcased in this presentation. Yes, there was some representation, like Lu Xianren who opened the show, but overall I would have expected more.
They played 'Balloons' by Foals, 'The Adults Are Talking' by The Strokes, 'Primary' by The Cure and 'Girl Power' by Shampoo. A fucking awesome selection of music, although I would have loved to see something a little more alternative, angsty, grungy and rebellious from the clothes with this playlist. I can see this selection of music on a Vivienne Westwood runway from the 90's.
LFW + Hu Bing Selects for Chinese designers:
Chinese designers are very relevant and common now on the LFW schedule, which has become a great place to showcase new work. The fashion industry always seem to look to London above all fashion capitols for emerging talent and innovation, and it is becoming more and more prevalent to see Chinese designers on LFW programme. A few examples that have benefitted from the LFW platform include Yuhan Wang, Zhong Zixin and Susan Fang, all of whom truly deserved that spot and used it to gain traction and boost their careers.
With 'Hu Bing Selects', Hu live-streamed the collection on his Weibo channel, which saw 900,000 people tune in, so I think the premise of his endorsement and promotion is huge for brands that are lucky enough to work with him. Again, Hu, (being Chinese) is extremely passionate about Chinese cultures, fashion in China and sharing the talent and emerging designers from all of Asia. Often, the West only push western content and media, so regardless of how incredible an Asian designer might be, we very rarely get to see them in the public eye, promoted on a large platform like LFW. More than this, it seems harder now more than ever for young and emerging designers, especially those from marginalised communities, to reach a larger audience and build a platform, so celebrity endorsement, AKA Hu Bing, is monumental.
The future:
Naturally, 'Hu Bing Selects' will showcase a different designer in future seasons so Consistence may not be able to show on the official LFW schedule, which isn't necessarily a negative thing, as I love Consistence's efforts to show collections internationally in all the major and minor fashion capitols. I think this will allow them to gradually build international appeal, although they have been presenting for over 10 years and even their instagram profile - created and active since 2013 - only has 700 or so followers.
I think the design couple need to develop a stronger brand image and a story, particularly one that revolves around the fabulous pair because yes, I loved this collection and I enjoyed looking into the brand, but other than the general 'sustainability whilst maintaining luxury' ideal - which quite frankly is my idea of the bare minimum for modern brands - I have no idea what is special about this brand. That said, I truly enjoyed this show and will be paying attention to their next moves.
As for Hu Bing Selects, I would be very intrigued to see the kind of work and designers he carefully curates to offer the LFW platform to next season and beyond, as I believe he has a good judge of creativity and talent.
I would also love to continue to cover these types of shows during fashion week in the future, so please share this with your fashion friends, and go look into the brands and people we discuss.
Thank you for reading and as always, please check out some more content on this blog, have a look at my other socials and leave a comment. I would love to know what you thought about this show and what you want me to cover in the future. Enjoy the rest of this SS25 season! XOXO
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