H&M’s American Winner

Earlier today, Ximon Lee, a 24-year-old New York transplant from Hong Kong, won the prestigious fourth annual H&M Design Award. Having recently graduated from Parsons School of Design, his achievement marks the first of its kind not only for an American, but also for a menswear designer. His entire menswear collection recently debuted at a runway show during Stockholm Fashion Week in front of an impressive panel of judges, including Luella Bartley, Lily Allen, Angelo Flaccavento, Lucinda Chambers, Tommy Ton, and of course, Ann-Sofie Johansson and Margareta van den Bosch (Head of Design/New Development and Creative Advisor at H&M, respectively). 

Lee’s collection differentiated itself in the worldly competition through the designer’s use of unlikely fabrics and departure from the traditional silhouette. Models sported expanding, geometric forms constructed from a range of materials, including everything from denim to garbage can liners. Lee’s source of inspiration—a group of homeless orphans in Moscow—manifests itself in the dense layering of materials, and is reminiscent of John Galliano’s early, controversial homeless-chic aesthetic. Though Lee is a menswear designer, themes of androgyny did not go unnoticed when a solitary female model closed the show. In the coming months, Lee will develop a few select pieces from the show to be sold in H&M stores alongside the brand’s fall collection.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO WATCH LEE’S RUNWAY SHOW, VISIT THE DESIGN AWARD’S WEBSITE.