Down And Out

IN SYDNEY, DESIGNER DION LEE MAKES HIS MENSWEAR DEBUT.

- Joshua Glass

Earlier this spring, fashion designer Dion Lee staged his Resort 2018 collection’s runway show in Australia. Years before, he had moved his design outfit across the world, making a pit stop in London as a contender for the 2013 International Woolmark Prize, before relocating personally and professionally to New York in late 2016. The invitation to return to his home country as Sydney Fashion Week’s guest designer was bittersweet: it would likely be his final au revoir to the land of Oz and yet it would also mark a new beginning for the designer, who chose to reveal his first men’s collection at the time. “It was a bookend for me,” nods the 32-year-old creative. “I don’t think I’ll ever have a moment that will feel as special as that.”

Without irony, Lee has both the look and temperament of the surfers of his homeland. Tall in height with just the slightest shadow of facial scruff, he hasn’t been on a board in years but nevertheless has been influenced by the culture—the active, yet at ease aspects of life Down Under. Born in Sydney, the designer always had an aptitude for creativity. He studied drama and performance as a young boy, but as he matured his interests grew toward the fine arts—sculpture and painting. Lee attended the Sydney Institute of Technology, and, upon finishing, established his fashion brand at the young age of 23. (“My mom was pretty nervous about it at the time,” he laughs.) His graduate collection—severe women’s ready-to-wear with architectural-inspired sartorialism—debuted at Sydney Fashion Week the next year.