JENN LEE Turns Ten with a Darkly Poetic London Fashion Week Showcase

London has seen its fair share of anniversaries, but few have carried the kind of raw electricity that surged through Village Underground when JENN LEE marked a decade of design. The air felt thick with anticipation, the sort usually reserved for gigs rather than runways. It was fitting, because this show was not simply about clothes. It was about memory, rebellion, and the transformation of heritage into something altogether untamed.

For ten years JENN LEE has carved her own path, slicing through the noise of fashion weeks with a language that blends philosophy, subculture, and sensuality. Her return to London Fashion Week for the fifth consecutive season was not about nostalgia. Instead, it was a restless revisiting, pulling threads from the past and twisting them into new shapes. The collection drew inspiration from Dream of the Red Chamber, a classical Eastern text that became a foundation for a story told in folds, seams, and silhouettes.

Two of the most striking pieces were born from the hands of a qipao artisan. The craftsmanship was staggering. Starch set forms, knot buttons tied by hand, delicate piping and seams finished with precision. These garments radiated patience and devotion, each stitch holding both tradition and modern desire. They stood as a reminder that true elegance requires time, and that artistry in fashion is a ritual as much as a profession.

Yet the show was no museum piece. JENN LEE steered her anniversary towards new territory, replacing frayed edges with gothic tailoring and heightened structure. The Fan Dress, with its layered pleats that recalled the folds of ancient fans and screens, carried strength in its stillness. At the shoulders, dragon and phoenix fastenings were repositioned as bold tattoo like marks, symbols of power now transformed into acts of defiance.

A reworked leather jacket brought a vampiric glamour to the collection. Its broad seventies silhouette and handmade knot closures gave it an ominous presence, straddling the line between dominance and seduction. It was impossible to ignore, the kind of piece that lingers in the mind long after the lights go down.

This was more than a catwalk. It was theatre with edge. A dancer, Liu I Ling, opened the show with movements that mirrored vulnerability and strength. Acupuncture needles were woven into the performance as accessories, blurring boundaries between body, ritual, and garment. Fetish elements, curated by UPKO, merged with tailoring, creating an atmosphere where danger was not just implied but celebrated.

The soundtrack, curated by Cloudy Ku, roamed freely across genres. Opera, Mexican folk, Eastern instruments, and post punk riffs bled into each other, creating a soundscape as fractured and ambitious as the collection itself.

Even hair and make up carried the story forward. Dennis Fei shaped styles that flickered between refined and chaotic, echoing the duality of vampires as both aristocrats and outsiders. Kite Chuang’s make up layered cracked red and black lips with translucent skin, while acupuncture needles on the face turned pain into ornament. The models did not simply wear the clothes. They embodied a narrative that moved between fragility and defiance.

To mark the milestone, JENN LEE also stepped into the digital sphere. In collaboration with Taiwanese tech platform Portal M, she launched the first phygital showroom at London Fashion Week. Visitors entered a virtual temple where East met gothic darkness, exploring garments not just with their eyes but through immersive technology. It was a bold experiment, extending the brand’s universe into a new dimension.

Ten years is a long time in fashion. Designers rise, fade, and often disappear altogether. JENN LEE, however, has used the milestone to sharpen her identity. This was not a retrospective. It was a declaration of intent, a statement that the next decade will not play it safe. Instead, it will continue to push boundaries where elegance meets rebellion, and where gothic sensuality becomes a language all of its own.