Kyle Luu On Using Fantasy and Humor As Styling Codes

Growing up in DC and moving to New York at 17, Kyle Luu first fell in love with fashion through cartoons, dreaming of becoming an illustrator. That spark ignited something bigger when a cousin gifted her a 600-page book filled with designers like Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Hussein Chalayan, and Iris van Herpen. “That was the first time I’d seen fashion I could truly identify with. Something about it felt so unattainable and unrealistic, and I was so curious to imagine how those garments would feel, move, and photograph in person.” After taking classes at FIT, Luu quickly became a fixture in New York’s downtown scene, forging creative alliances with brands like Luar and Telfar, relationships she maintains to this day. Her aesthetic, she describes as, “raw, yet there’s always a fantasy to it. There’s always something that might feel a bit humorous, something sexy,” reflects a life that has fluidly crafted the sartorial identity of pop culture’s finest. Luu’s fearless eye caught Solange Knowles’ attention in 2016, leading her to style and craft visuals for When I Get Home, as well as Solange’s viral 2018 Met Gala Iris van Herpen look, with a black durag, and a halo headpiece, and her 2019 full Ferragamo look. Never one to stay in a single lane, Luu has explored “social experiments” like a stint in Switzerland, where she learned garment construction through theater costume design, and most recently styled Katseye’s Beautiful Chaos album cover. Despite her high-profile projects, Luu remains private, grounded, and creatively leads with empathy, believing that “Fashion should be fun. It’s a business, and it’s a serious one, but we should also remember that we’re interacting with humans, whether that’s clients, teammates, or collaborators.” Models.com caught up with Luu to talk about her long-lasting collaboration with Raul Lopez of Luar, her rule-breaking spirit, and what her next big experiment might be.

How would you describe your work? What would you say is your trademark as a stylist?
It’s so hard to talk about yourself in that way, but I think for me, I moved to New York and didn’t have the opportunity to go to school full-time. I was really just taking classes at FIT. I originally wanted to go into fashion design, but the lack of resources pushed me to be crafty. I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Your work feels very DIY or scrappy,” and I feel like sometimes that has a negative connotation. I see it differently, though, because for me, it makes my work feel more personal, raw, and real. I’ve always tried to keep that essence in everything I do. I’m really good at creating on the fly. A lot of the time, when you see some of the headpieces I did for Luar’s most recent show, those came out of a bit of frustration. We were trying to figure out how to tie together all the elements in Raul’s original mood board. He was trying to translate something, and I was trying to help him bring that vision to life. The best way for me to do it was to create something on the spot instead of manufacturing it. It couldn’t have been manufactured; it was a little scrappy, a little pieced together, a little raw. I think my work can definitely feel raw, yet there’s always a fantasy to it. There’s always something that might feel a bit humorous, something sexy, and those things are all true to my work. It’s hard to describe my work because so much of it reflects who I am as a person and my experience getting into fashion as someone who had no resources

I know you said that you made the headpieces for Luar’s F/W 25 Show. How did you learn how to make those kinds of headpieces? Was that just through trying it out and experimenting?
Raul (Lopez) and I have talked about this before. I think part of growing up queer and being someone so interested in fashion means you often have very few resources, and you have to get creative and crafty. It really goes back to something that’s not unique to my story. It’s very niche to the community and shows up a lot in drag, where you’re constantly piecing things together, hiding flaws, and presenting something beautiful to the world. That’s still very true to who I am today, and I think Raul can relate to that as well. I believe that’s why we work so well together. At the end of the day, we’re focused on presenting something beautiful to the world, and however we have to get there is how we’re going to get there. There are no rules. I’ve never believed in rules or followed them. I never even had proper fashion training, never assisted anyone, and never worked under anybody. I just had to figure it out on my own, and that’s still how I operate today.

Where did you grow up? What was your first introduction to fashion?
I grew up in DC and moved to New York when I was 17 in 2008. My first introduction to fashion was really through cartoons. I wanted to be an illustrator when I was younger. My mom said something to me that I don’t necessarily agree with now, but at the time, she told me, “You want to be an illustrator? That’s not something people can really make a living off of,” which, in some ways, was true. I think illustrators are often underpaid. A lot of times, you’d watch a cartoon, and it would just stop at a certain episode, and then they’d keep rerunning the same shows because they couldn’t afford the illustrators. It took so long to complete new projects and episodes. So I decided I wanted to get into fashion design because the illustration part of it, especially drawing female figures, felt like the next best thing to drawing cartoons. When I was really young, a cousin of mine gave me a book that I still have to this day. It’s about 600 pages, and it only features avant-garde designers like Rei Kawakubo, Yohji Yamamoto, Hussein Chalayan, and Iris van Herpen. That was the first time I’d seen fashion I could truly identify with. Something about it felt so unattainable and unrealistic, and I was so curious to imagine how those garments would feel, move, and photograph in person. I had no idea what they would actually look like up close. When I finally had the opportunity to experience it, the person who brought that childhood vision to life for me was Solange Knowles. When I came on toward the end of A Seat at the Table and then into When I Get Home, we were able to open so many archives of those specific garments I’d seen in that book. For me, that was a full-circle moment. It brought me back to how I initially saw fashion—these incredible avant-garde pieces—and finally being able to see and touch them in person made everything come full circle, starting with that book I received as a child.

I love the connecting story of having that book as a child and then using a lot of that inspiration for the designs you worked on with Solange Knowles. Could you also speak about how you and Solange came together?
I think she just found me on Instagram at the time. It was so funny because I’d been working on other music-related projects before her, and I remember it was my birthday. I was sitting at dinner talking to friends, and they asked me, “What do you want to work on next?” I said, “I want to work with someone who aligns more with my vision.” At that time, I was working on projects that just didn’t feel right for me. Sometimes you see a stylist and a client who are a perfect match, and then that same stylist might work with someone else, and it doesn’t hit the same way. It’s not about whether they’re a great stylist or not; it’s about whether they align with a particular talent. For me, Solange was that alignment. My friends asked, “Who do you want to work with?” and I said, “I love what Solange is doing right now, and I would really love to work with her.” I swear, two days later, I got a random phone call from her assistant at the time, telling me, “You have two days to figure this out.” And I was like, “Absolutely. I think this is going to be the right fit for me.” I’m so glad I took that chance because she’s so special, and I’ve really enjoyed the work we’ve created and collaborated on.

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What non-fashion influences such as art, film, literature, or music influence your perspective with your work or inspire your work?
I think that, coming from downtown nightlife, you’re just surrounded by the most amazing talents. A lot of the friends I look up to aren’t necessarily in the fashion space. I have friends who are more in the fine arts world. My friend Stewart Uoo has a curtain series where he created all these curtains, each with its own character. He did one inspired by Abercrombie and Fitch, where he made all these plaid curtains, and another one with a Japanese schoolgirl feel. If you look at the curtains, they’re these oblong shapes dressed in Japanese schoolgirl fabrics. I’ll send you his profile after this. There’s also my friend Raul De Nieves, who creates these sculptures covered in crystals. I find myself looking to a lot of my friends who are a bit outside of fashion. Your eyes can get so used to focusing on just one thing, and when you step outside of that and look at things unrelated to fashion, that’s often where I find the most inspiration.

What’s your process when you’re conceptualizing a look? What do you start from? Do you begin with an emotion or just a reference?
I think it really depends on the teams I’m working with. I’ll often lean into the photographer’s work, and nowadays, more than ever, I try not to take on too much. When you’re younger, you just take on everything, but now I’m more selective about what aligns with my vision and where I’m at in life. Sometimes I’ll look at a photographer’s work and think, “What are the blind spots? What’s something fresh I can bring to this picture that maybe they haven’t done before?” If their style is more minimal, is there something I can add that still brings the story to life? I really love texture, shapes, distortion, and going into character play. We do a lot of that for Luar. It definitely depends on the day, though. I love experimenting and coming up with something that feels otherworldly. I’m never going to be the person who just throws on a suit or a full look and calls it done. It really irks me when someone says, “Just throw the thing on,” because I’m like, “No, we need to stop and figure out what’s going to make this pop.” You know what I mean? I’m just not that girl. I’ve never been that person. I did this story for CR Fashion Book years ago, and they had a “full look policy.” It pissed me off so much that they ended up naming the story “Full Look Policy.” When that happened, I told myself, “I have to put my freak on it.” So we started sculpting the garments. I thought, “We can work within the full look policy, but it’s not going to look like the full look.” We started stuffing the garments and creating all these oblong shapes, and it really turned into something else. You’d never recognize it as the original full look. I’m one of those people who will try to break the rules every single time. I’m never going to give you exactly what you asked for. If the vision is amazing, we can follow the rules. If it’s not, we’re going to have to find a way around it.

Are there are any emerging brands right now that are pushing boundaries, experimenting more, and really resonating with you?
I think I got so lucky to come up alongside so many people who are popping off now, like Benjamin Armand. I’m really so happy for them. There are so many. In New York, I feel like the people who were meant to blow up definitely have, like Shayne Oliver, Telfar Clemens, Raul Lopez, Willy Chavarria. A lot of these designers like Rui Zhou, Standing Ground, Hodakova, (and so many others) who are getting big now, I remember pulling from them when they were just showing their graduate collections at Central Saint Martins for Solange. I remember seeing their work back when they were graduating from Central Saint Martins, and it’s amazing to see where they started and how far they’ve taken their collections over the years. Every time I get the chance, I’ll always work with emerging designers.

You recently styled the music video for Katseye’s “Beautiful Chaos.” How was that process?
I’ve been working with my friend Humberto Leon on his girl group, Katseye. He had asked me to work with them before on a Netflix series that was shot two years ago. At the time, I knew it was just way too many people to dress, so I told him, “Call me when it’s the final formation of the group.” These days, I’m mostly working with close friends, and Humberto is a good friend of mine. He gave me so many opportunities back when Opening Ceremony was around. So when he asked me to work on this project, I said, “Absolutely.” I like to pay it forward. He’s done a lot for me, and I wanted to be there for him as he put this group together. It was also a bit of a personal social experiment for me. I’ve always done that in my career. Since I was young, there have always been projects where I’ve thought about the long-term trajectory. I wanted to align myself more with the Asian market because I spend so much time in Asia, and I really enjoy being there. I’m always asking myself, “What projects are going to help me get out there more?” Working on Katseye felt like the right move because they have both a Korean label and an American label, and a lot of the work is happening in Korea. It was partly a social experiment but also a chance to collaborate with a friend and to connect more deeply with the Asian market, since I’m traveling there so often and want to work more in that region. I don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket in the States or Europe. For example, I spent five years in Switzerland working at a theater, learning garment construction through costume design. That experience was like a social experiment, too. It ended up leading me into consulting work. I did a collaboration with the shoe brand Giaborghini, which taught me the language of consulting and opened new doors. For me, it’s all about planting seeds. You put your seeds in the ground, set them, and sometimes forget them for a while. Later, you see how those seeds have grown into opportunities that take you into new spaces. Right now, I’m focused on pulling back from certain things and doing a lot of social experiments on myself.

Are there any new social experiments you’re looking forward to this year?
There’s a lot. There are quite a few consulting projects on the table right now, although I can’t take on fifty of them. That’s what I’m trying to figure out—one’s over in Asia, one’s in Europe, and there’s one here in New York. It’s a question of, “How do I decide where to split my time?” Right now, it’s all up in the air, and I’m just seeing where I’m at. I’m planning to go to Paris after September for a little while because, for the past three years, I’ve spent a lot of time outside of New York. I’m looking forward to exploring other places outside of New York, and that’s my next big social experiment.

“You don’t need to become a caricature of what you think fashion is supposed to be just because you’ve seen it, heard it, or been treated that way. There’s a way to treat people with respect and still get things done.”

What’s one thing outside of work that you would like people to know about you?
My life has changed so much socially post-pandemic. Before the pandemic, I was doing these parties called Club Glam that were really immersed within the community — not just the queer community specifically but the New York community in general. After the pandemic, I’m inside the house all the time now. New York has changed a lot for me. With the way social media, TikTok, and all these digital platforms have taken over, it feels like there’s a lack of energy outside in the real world. Most of my days now are spent focusing on self-care, and nothing I do outside of work is really fashion-related. When I’m looking at things for inspiration, it’s usually not fashion. It’s more film, fine arts, and everything outside of fashion. As for what I’d like people to know about me… I’m honestly not sure. I don’t know if I even want people to know things about me. I’m such a private person, and I tend not to broadcast my business. Even doing an interview like this can feel a little scary for me because I generally don’t speak too much publicly. What you see is a true testament to who I am. I don’t think I’m any different in my work than I am outside of it. The way I operate at work is the same way I am in my personal life. I’m not a type-A person when it comes to how I run my teams day-to-day. I’m very alternative. I like to give people freedom, and I don’t like to lead with force. I never get frazzled on set or have meltdowns over fashion. Fashion should be fun. It’s a business, and it’s a serious one, but we should also remember that we’re interacting with humans — whether that’s clients, teammates, or collaborators. At the end of the day, I believe you should treat everyone like a human being. If there’s one thing I’d want someone to know about me, it’s that you don’t have to be the typical type-A fashion person. You can lead a team in your own way without feeling like there’s only one way to do things. There are no strict rules. You just have to make the best decisions to keep the project running smoothly and be a fair boss and leader. It’s important to understand that people are human, not robots. We’re not meant to operate on rigid timelines that cause emotional distress. That’s what I’d want people to know about me — that I’m human, and I understand how the human mind and body work. You don’t need to become a caricature of what you think fashion is supposed to be just because you’ve seen it, heard it, or been treated that way. There’s a way to treat people with respect and still get things done.

It seems like self-care is a huge priority for you. Are there any self-care practices that help you stay mentally and spiritually aligned?
One thing I really love doing is taking team trips if my team and I are having a stressful week and we have a few days off. If I’m ever in LA, I’ll always take them to Disney or Universal. If I’m in New York, it’s a bit more low-key, but sometimes I’ll just decide, “I’m going to go get 10 massages this week.” I’ll do whatever I need to do to get myself back to 100 percent for the next project. A big part of it for me is also self-reflecting. People talk a lot about imposter syndrome, and I’m sure that’s a very real thing, but I also believe it’s important to take time to reflect and keep things in perspective. I always tell people, when they’re going through something like not getting a job or missing out on an opportunity, “That job wasn’t in your inbox three days ago, and you weren’t thinking about it. Pretend it never happened and move on.” There are certain little things I do to take the pressure off myself. I read a lot, and I talk to my friends in the community. I’m very transparent. I’ve always been that way. When people come to me for advice, I’m always as transparent as possible. Talking about things and realizing that challenges in this industry are not the end of the world is really important. Opportunities will always come. When you choose this career, you have to remember things will never always be on the up—it’s a constant cycle of ups and downs. It’s crucial to make sure that during your downtime, you pour back into yourself, soak in new information, visit exhibits, or see things that have nothing to do with fashion. Then, when you step back into work, you’ll have a fresh perspective and can reapply those new visuals and ideas to what you’re creating.