“TERRECOTTA” 

On March 29, 1974, local farmers in the Chinese province of Shaanxi were digging a

well when they came across a piece of a clay figure that led to the discovery of the

Terracotta Army- which went unearthed for over 2,000 years. The first emperor of a

unified China, Qin Shi Huangdi (reigned 221-210 BCE), was a man obsessed with his

mortality; he commissioned these remarkably individual and life-sized statues of over

8,000 soldiers, 600 horses, 100 chariots and waterfowl around his mausoleum to

protect and greet him in the afterlife. The once brightly painted lacquer of the soldiers

flaked due to exposure to the elements, leaving them the reddish-brown hue of their

terracotta clay base. As a kid, Lo marvelled at these statues, not just their uniqueness

and magnitude but their perseverance. Oxidation, fire and dehydration may have altered

the statue's hue, yet they never faltered-even two thousand years later. Today, these

statues have come to life, reincarnated in a far-out spiky utopia for Lo's AW24

collection.

In this new world, Lo plays with the balance and scale of the brand's iconic spikes. They

run across the hoodie's sleeves' sides, down the back's centre, and along trousers and

fishtail skirts in columns. A pair of felted wool sarong trousers with spikes along their

exterior has a belt, marrying Lo's east meets west influences. Mid-length skirts and

trousers have spikes that begin midway and amplify in size. Wool hybrid skirt trousers

that nod to the armour's silhouettes and off-the-shoulder jumpers begin in spikes and

then transform into ribbed knits that cling to the body.

Liquid metal-esque double-breasted hooded jumpers done in yarns provided by

Tollengo 1900 and silver handknit paillette headdresses serve as reinterpretations of the

stone helmets of the Qin dynasty. A grey and garnet sleeveless, slightly cropped

turtleneck and wool trousers that twist at the knee are materialised in a felted spike print

that evokes an awoken statue crackling as it comes back to life.

The work of German visual artist Gerhard Ritcher inspires the season's colour palette. A

velvet Devoré top slashed at the shoulder and a skirt share a repeating square pattern

that ties back to the decaying lamellar armour covering the soldiers' chests and

references Ritcher's 'Uran' 1989 painting.

Making its catwalk debut alongside Chet Lo's AW24 collection are the handbags and

footwear in Lo’s capsule collection with Charles & Keith. The collaboration sees Lo take

classic staples like ballet flats and the sling-back heel and subvert them in spiky

variations- worn in the show with socks provided by Pantherella.

The Chet Lo x Charles & Keith capsule collection is available in Charles & Keith retail

stores and online via CHARLESKEITH.COM and CHETLO.COM.