This daddy wants to share some sugar with his locally crafted fashion.
In 2018, Jason Lee, a fashion and accessories designer and father to two adorable girls, founded YMDH - short for You Make Daddy Happy.
A graduate majoring in fashion design from the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Lee's interest toward design developed at an early age.
"I don't think I'm good at drawing but I've liked making things since I was young," Lee said. "I always liked to test out new methods to create something."
Now in his 30s, Lee was influenced by many local cultures. His childhood spent watching a lot of Hong Kong movies is heavily incorporated into his designs.
"When I was in secondary school, I liked to go for a stroll and bought quite a lot of magazines," he said. "I also liked Edison Chen. I had kept a close eye on street-style and contemporary elements that mixed both East and West since I was a student."
Inspiration also came from outside the city.
"Originally, I was really into Japanese cultures and its vintage element as well. But when I was studying in THEI, I learned more about Western cultures and fashion knowledge," he said.
It helped that he won scholarships, which allowed him to travel to Paris, among other places, affording him the opportunity to learn more about different cultures. His designs for YMDH exhibit this cauldron of different influences.
Lee first found fame with his footwear design in the 2017 Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers' Contest. "The collection was called Kingdom of the Underground," he recalled. "We basically played with a bit of everything. There's a Chinese history element but we also added a bit of grunge. During the show, we incorporated music. There was something happy and lively for everyone."
Perhaps out of an artistic instinct, Lee also likes to give meaning to the ordinary.
"Since we don't focus on only designing a particular type of product, there is plenty of room for creativity," he explained, sharing as an example how he would even use his daughters' old toys to create something new.
"To break the rules - that is what we like to do when we're designing. Also, to think out of the box with whatever concept that we've decided to work on. We would like to discover new ways to represent it."
The brand's Madonna Mask multifunctional bag is one representation of its penchant for the unconventional.
"I was always eating McDonald's and carrying the takeaway bag. It was something ordinary from our daily lives but I wanted to add more meaning to it."
Walking through Lee's studio is akin to strolling through someone's childhood playground, with a lot to explore.
His passion toward design is both visibly expressed and wholeheartedly felt, even in the brand's logo. "It is actually the Chinese word for heart," he said. "We like to play with Chinese elements in our brand. It actually represents happiness, attentiveness and love (in Cantonese), which we value when we're making products."
YMDH's spring/summer 2024 collection, Life is A Game, is the designer's meditation on agency.
"I played with a conceptual theme this time," Lee explained.
"I derived the meaning literally. You could think of it like playing Sim City. We are the ones who control ourselves but not the other way round."
But in a world often characterized by cynicism and fast-paced urban living, there are always ups and downs.
His autumn-winter 2024 collection, Hello or Goodbye, is designed from the vantage point of an alien traveling and leaving traces in different places, but it also illustrates the vulnerability of a designer's struggle.
"I may have alienated some people with our brand because to them, we might be a bit weird, but we also left traces in different cities, so in a way it is like saying hello to the public," he said.
Goodbye represents the six-year-old brand undergoing trying times and Lee is wondering if it can continue. "We are trying to express and navigate at the same time."
To Lee, storytelling is essential, and both he and his team look forward to speaking to the global audience through their designs.
"The city is very fast-paced, so when I was designing, I was thinking about how to extend the story of the design. And so it could continue and play out with more meaning."
(The Standard / Weekend Glitz)
