Meet Vivian Luk, the Hong Kong designer trained under Vera Wang and beloved by the city’s elite, is finally stepping into the spotlight

Fifteen years on, Luk returned to the same reference when designing her showcase collection for “Virtuose: The Artistry of Couture”, the opening show of this year’s Hong Kong Fashion Fest. But this time, she revisited the story through the eyes of Wendy—the eldest Darling child, caregiver to her siblings, and the one who ultimately finds the courage to grow up. 

“Wendy was always the maternal one, the person who protected and looked after everyone,” says Luk, who became a mother in 2014. While pregnant, she was diagnosed with cancer, then faced it again in 2018, when she had to pause her business. The experiences reshaped her career entirely—her designs have since become more intimate, made for the people she loves.

“I had always been designing for everyone else, not for myself,” she reflects. “When my daughter was born, I began designing for the two of us together; for mothers and daughters.” In 2017, she launched Little Miss Luk, a childrenswear extension of her atelier, where she would also create mother-daughter matching outfits. Pairing with her daughter was the first time Luk had worn her own designs in public, and it made her understand them differently. “[Only then did] I feel how my own pieces sat on my body— and the confidence they gave me.” 

Wearing her own designs gave Luk a new perspective; now, her Virtuose collection reflects that, with a better awareness of how a woman actually lives in her clothes. The collection spans ten looks designed for different occasions. “You’ll see bits and pieces of ready-to-wear [style] woven in—smaller mix-and-match pieces; a top you can style in different ways, by adjusting the collar or pushing up the sleeves; all the way through to a full-on gown at the very end.”

This collection, Luk says, is “much pared down” compared to her past work. For someone experienced in made-to-order and extreme intricacy, the challenge of distilling her own style into a full, independent collection was in the editing. “It’s about having the confidence to say less; and being able to stand behind my work and feel: this is it. This is enough.” 

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Luk’s design philosophy for this collection is anchored in a 80/20 principle—a sensibility she traces back to her formative years under Wang. “Vera has a very strong voice, but at the same time, she lets things go by chance a little,” she says. “She likes to leave 20 per cent to breathe—and that is a principle I carry throughout this collection.” Luk’s interpretation of that approach is for 80 per cent of each garment to be a single, dominant feature, while the remaining 20 per cent is accent—whether that’s a cut-out or subtle variations in shade or material.

Her pieces are dramatically voluminous, yet lightweight. That sense of ease, she says, comes from the way the fabric is made to move with the wearer rather than sit on her. “I like to think of it as drawing lines all over the body, as if the fabric is wrapping around [the wearer]— starting from the neckline, around the bust, the waist, all the way to the back, and then returning to the hip. I want the fabric to truly embrace her.” 

The collection also marks a new ambition for Luk: to make her organic draping repeatable. “In the past, I would drape directly with fabric, making each piece a one-off,” she says. Here, similar organic forms reappear across different looks, yet nothing feels mass-produced. Each silhouette has been worked through multiple mock-ups until the draping is narrowed down to a precise kind of fold. The bespoke sensibility is still present: “There are still small spontaneous elements at the very edge,” she says, “but that reads more as a trim, not [like my bespoke work where] the entire gown is decked out in layers of handcrafted texture.” 

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This show marks a pivotal moment for Luk, who has grown increasingly open to stepping into the spotlight. She signalled that shift with the 2023 launch of “Embrace”, her first ready-to-wear collection, a line centred on fluid, lightweight daywear. It was the push she needed to establish her presence in the public eye. “Since introducing that line, my pieces have been featured in magazines more frequently, because they’re actual, tangible pieces that can be pulled for shoots, or that celebrities can wear.” 

Luk’s ready-to-wear sits between the formal and the everyday. “My ready-to-wear means it can be worn comfortably,” she says, “but not [so casually] as something you’d wear to the beach. It’s still meant for special occasions.” Someone whose gowns once looked like they were borrowed straight from a fairy tale princess—the stuff of so many little girls’ dreams—is now making pieces that can take a woman from day to night with quiet ease; Wendy is all grown up.

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