Receiver of The Perry Ellis Scholarship
Bio
Oscar Chen was born and raised in Shanghai, China, where western culture bathes and marinates in Chinese communist ideologies. As a designer, he questions everything through the form of garments. Oscar has interned with Naeem Khan and Self Magazine as an assistant editor. He has been awarded the Cotton University Award and the Perry Ellis Scholarship. His designs have been featured in Toksick Magazine and Vogue Italia.
“No Homo”
Collection Inspiration | Artist Statement
I see fashion as social confrontation, and contend that every question we project onto fashion leads to a question about social construction. I am inspired by provocative artists with dramatic personalities – those who have challenged social like Oscar Wilde, Robert Mapplethorpe and Leigh Bowery. Yet the traditional techniques of fashion, like tailoring and intricate hand embellishments, intrigue me as well. I believe that new ideas are always born out of the old: ideas that challenge and inspire. For this menswear collection, I question hetero-normative classic sexiness that cages men under the patriarchal society. Performance artist Leigh Bowery is my inspiration for this collection. Bowery’s fun and grotesque use of fashion, which blurred the boundaries of gender and sexuality inspired me to create a new kind of sexiness. By combining the theatricality of costumes with traditional menswear, I hope to create a new category of garments that are non-binary, genderless, sensual and fun. But the fun is also serious. I want to confront ideas of what normal is.
PHOTO Grace DuVal & Julian SpringMODEL/S Valentino Zamora, Independent Model HAIR Agnes Doyle MAKEUP Nicole Rizzo & Rebecca Oxley