Luke Edward Hall’s whimsical fashion and homeware brand Chateau Orlando launches in Joyce Hong Kong
Luke Edward Hall has yet to find a limit to his creative prowess. He’s a British artist, interior designer, writer and also the creative director of Chateau Orlando, a whimsical fashion and homeware brand that he co-founded in 2022.
Named after Virginia Woolf’s time travelling protagonist, Chateau Orlando amalgamates Hall’s diverse interests into one. Notably, his colourful illustrations, inspired by a love for art history, literature, music, mythology and nature, become prints on plates, porcelain trays and cushion covers as well as patterns on knitwear, shirts and tailored ensembles. Unconventional colour pairings and vintage touches further reflect Hall’s penchant for adding a contemporary spin on history. For example, the brand’s fall-winter 2024 collection The Ballad of Pan merges the 1980s youth culture of the New Romantics with the ethos of the Romantic poets of the 18th century.
While Hall studied menswear fashion design at the prestigious Central Saint Martins, he never thought he would start his own label. He first launched a multi-disciplinary studio in 2015. After a slew of independent collaborations, a company in Milan offered to back Chateau Orlando by providing their business know-how. Hall jumped at the opportunity, tapping artisanal manufacturers across Italy to help bring his designs to life.
On March 26, Hall brought the romantic world of Chateau Orlando to Hong Kong with Joyce. Transforming the Joyce Pacific Place boutique with his fantastical illustrations, the brand showcased its spring-summer 2025 collection. Titled Blossom at the Mention of Your Name, the range of kitschy garments and homeware is a love letter to a namesake novel by Fiona Cooper published in 1995 and his experiences living in the English countryside.
During his visit to Hong Kong, Hall sat down with Tatler to discuss Chateau Orlando’s foray into a new market, the brand’s evolution and why storytelling matters.
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Chateau Orlando’s showcase at the Joyce Pacific Place boutique (Photo: Joyce)
Chateau Orlando’s showcase at the Joyce Pacific Place boutique (Photo: Joyce)
How does it feel to introduce Chateau Orlando to a new audience in Hong Kong with Joyce? We are mostly online, so being able to bring the brand to a physical space is really exciting because you can have a different experience. You get to explain the brand to people and they can actually try on the clothing.
Tell us about the window displays that you created for the brand’s debut at Joyce. We have a screen at the entrance that is decorated with my drawings. It mixes some of my illustrations from the spring-summer 2025 collection and iconic motifs that we use on knitwear, prints and clothing patches. At Chateau Orlando, we always have these hand-drawn elements.
Chateau Orlando blurs the lines between fashion and interiors. Is there more in common between these two worlds than we’d expect? For me, the approach is really similar. If I’m designing a room, putting an outfit together or designing a collection, it’s often about unexpected colour combinations and contrasting textures. When I am designing a room, I also use a lot of vintage pieces. It’s the same when I get dressed. I love mixing old with new things to create something contemporary.
Your designs at Chateau Orlando draw from broad influences across time. Why? The key thing is storytelling. I wouldn’t feel comfortable just making clothes or anything really for the sake of it. What I really enjoy about what we do is this diving deep into different topics and getting lost. I take inspiration from this to make my drawings, which we then turn into patterns. I think it’s really fun to be inspired by King Arthur and then an Italian beach club from the 1980s.
Moodboard for the Chateau Orlando spring-summer 2025 collection (Photo: Joyce)
Moodboard for the Chateau Orlando spring-summer 2025 collection (Photo: Joyce)
Your spring-summer 2025 collection is inspired by a Fiona Cooper novel. How did you weave its storyline into the collection? What I really love about the book is that the central character is completely obsessed with nature and new age elements like magic and crystals. I based my collection around him but also around my own experiences living in the countryside. I have a garden where I grow flowers, plants and vegetables. I take a lot of inspiration from where I live and the nature around me.
What other interesting hidden references does the collection embrace?I’ve carried over some prints from autumn-winter 2024. I love storytelling that’s individual to each collection, but there are also themes that run through them all. For example, there is a design called Endymion inspired by 18th century English Romantic poet John Keats’ poem by the same name. It’s one of my favourite poems and it tells the story of a shepherd hunter who falls in love with the moon goddess Selene. I love mythology and folklore, so these elements come through often.
Tailoring is a newer addition to the Chateau Orlando universe. How did you push this technique further in spring-summer 2025? We are definitely experimenting with tailoring and we are going to do more. Take the jacket that I am wearing now from the [spring-summer 2025] collection. It’s based on a vintage piece that I have. I will often bring my own vintage items from home, take elements from them and mix them up. I also like the idea of heavy and durable fabrics that you can wear to both an evening party and in the garden. We’re also starting to establish signature design codes like the blanket stitch. You can see it all over the cuffs and collars.
Chateau Orlando spring-summer 2025 collection (Photo: Joyce)
Chateau Orlando spring-summer 2025 collection (Photo: Joyce)
Chateau Orlando spring-summer 2025 collection (Photo: Joyce)
Chateau Orlando spring-summer 2025 collection (Photo: Joyce)
All of Chateau Orlando’s products are made in specialised regions across Italy. Did you play a role in selecting these partners? Yes! It’s been great because I [had] already worked with Ginori, the Italian manufacturer of porcelain. They have an incredible factory outside Florence and they’ve been making products since the 1700s. When I was thinking about making homeware, Ginori agreed to help make a small collection of porcelain trays which is here at Joyce today. For Chateau Orlando’s collaborations, I prefer working with heritage companies because it speaks to what I’m about.
What specific values are shared between Chateau Orlando and its collaborators? It’s a shared approach to life: we celebrate squeezing the maximum juice out of it. I love enthusiastic, knowledgeable and creative people who are passionate about what they do, whether it’s growing vegetables or writing poems. It’s also about having a romantic viewpoint on the world.
Where do you see Chateau Orlando going in the future? I am excited to expand on what we’re doing right now. We’re getting to the stage where you can create a full Chateau Orlando look. I’m excited about working with more physical spaces as well. We’ve done some pop-ups but I’d love to have a shop eventually. Showcasing all of our clothes in an environment that we’ve curated is another way of cultivating the Chateau Orlando universe.
How do you hope your customers feel while wearing or displaying a Chateau Orlando product? I want there to be that sense of optimism and playfulness. For the clothing, I want them to become classic pieces that can be worn over and over again. I also want people to be transported by the collections. I’m all about stories and I want people to be swept up in it. This element of fantasy is part of the power of clothing, isn’t it?
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