Viviano is on a roll. In the past two weeks, Lady Gaga wore a black Viviano ruffle top on her Mayhem Ball tour, Bad Bunny rocked an embroidered vest and frilled shirt during a performance in Tokyo, and Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams wore a sheer lace shirt and tweed vest to a pre-Oscars party.
“We’re killing it!” said Viviano Sue backstage after this evening’s show, which took place on a raised runway in the hall of Yodobashi Church, decorated with dramatic scarlet drapes. Marking a full 10 years in business, this collectsion made for a slightly edgier proposition than the brand is known for. The saccharine colors and flounciness Viviano of previous outings have shifted into something more defiant and emotionally complex.
“I have a lot of questions about society right now,” said Sue. “Everybody has to put an identity on everybody else—you’re gay, you’re bi, you’re majority, you’re whatever. It’s like, some people don’t want to be identified! Like me!” Sue, who grew up across China and the US, refuses to be boxed in, aiming for a post-identity politics that doesn’t impose limits on who people are—and certainly not on what they wear.
He titled the collectsion “A Portrait of Her, Unnamed.” This unnamed woman—strutting down the runway in a pink satin pussy bow blouse, a black moire bomber jacket, a gold sequined evening gown, or mille-feuille layers of chiffon—certainly did contain multitudes. The embroidered tailoring and ruffled skirts will no doubt provide some more great material for the celebrity stylists currently ravaging the designer’s DMs.
“It’s an image of myself,” said Sue. Over the past few years, the designer has fielded advice from various corners of the industry about how he should be making his clothes more palatable. “I didn’t listen!” he laughed. “This is my style, and my style is chaos! So what? I’m making crazy clothes, and I’m happy. Fashion’s supposed to be fun. It’s a weapon to express yourself.” No doubt Gaga would agree.
