In Hong Kong, the night market is more than a setting — rather, a pulse. As dusk settles and neon flickers to life, streets transform into living arteries of sound, scent, heat and motion. It is where we gather after long days of work, where strangers brush past one another in quiet intimacy, and where labour and leisure blur. Night markets are equalisers. Ecosystems where status dissolves, voices rise, and community forms through the act of being one within the throng.
For Fall/Winter 2026, Chet Lo returns to this formative site of memory after a one-season hiatus with Night Market, inspired by the transcendent energy of Hong Kong’s iconic evening bazaars. Reimagined in the heart of London at the Mandarin Oriental, the life of the night market is set against a juxtaposed backdrop that shares its point of origin. This show marks a pivotal shift in Lo’s practice: from proving identity to hosting it.
Since the brand’s inception, Lo has built an instantly recognisable design language. Merino wool spikes that oscillate armour and caress, second-skin knits rooted in romance but with restraint. These delicate yet defensive textures act as boundaries rather than barriers; softness learning how to stand its ground.
With these codes firmly established, Night Market opens outward. Though the Western gaze traditionally stigmatises Asians as submissive or unseen, this collection insists on presence: deliberate and unapologetically public.
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The season unfolds much like the market itself. A palette of black, green, crimson, and charcoal mirrors neon cutting through night air, steam rising from food stalls, and shadows cast between bodies moving shoulder to shoulder. Feathered eyewear pieces are drawn from Lo’s fascination with Peking opera and Chinese theatrical tradition, where adornment signifies status and vitality. The eye is framed yet partially concealed, mediating desire and self-protection. Historically, performers use specialised head movements in dramatic climaxes to animate the feathers.
Umbrellas play into both literal and emotional architecture: inspired by an intimate pause when Lo and his partner found themselves sheltering beneath an umbrella at a local market, waiting for the storm to pass.
Night Market extends beyond the runway into a living celebration of Asian creativity. Visitors are invited to explore stalls hosted by makers across the Asian diaspora — designers, artists, jewellers, and photographers sharing their craft and stories.
In partnership with the Asian People’s Disability Alliance, the event foregrounds access and visibility within Asian communities, acknowledging disability justice as integral to collective liberation. Red Flagged addresses safeguarding within creative and cultural spaces, ensuring that recognition is met with accountability.
Hair & Care CIC is a Hackney based non-profit organisation founded by international hairstylist Anna Cofone, working to ensure blind and low vision people are included, celebrated and represented across fashion and beauty spaces. Since launching its Making Fashion Accessible initiative in 2024, the organisation partners with designers across London and Copenhagen Fashion Weeks to make runway shows accessible for blind audiences, through immersive, multi-sensory experiences. For Chet Lo’s AW26 show, Hair & Care collaborates with global audio brand Philips Sound to elevate the accessible experience through high-quality headphones, provided for guests to listen to the audio description as models walk the runway. Hair & Care is also supported by Authentic Beauty Concept, whose Replenish range – featuring braille and NaviLens packaging – will be gifted to guests, marking a shared commitment to accessibility. Hair & Care’s mission is to drive long-term, structural change within Fashion Week, embedding accessibility as standard practice and continue partnering with forward-thinking designers and brands to open fashion to the blind and low vision community.
From self-reclamation to communal uplift, from individual voice to chorus, Night Market is a call to gather — to uplift one another in an industry where authenticity is increasingly rare. Through street-inflected demi-couture, theatrical storytelling, and celebration, Chet Lo invites us into a site of connection and shared belonging. The invitation is simple: come as you are, stay as long as you like, and take up space. Under the glow of streetlights, among strangers who feel like kin, the night market comes alive once more
