Sometimes spontaneous thoughts manifest themselves in the form of bigger stuff in life. Interestingly one gets to realize it only later on. But those who do, their world changes astonishingly. And the fashion industry is constantly enjoying this sort of startling phenomenon with creative geniuses delving into their inner talent to design unconventional attire that can easily be worn and combed to look attractive at the same time.

One might think it’s a challenging task to carry out at the end of the day. Well, not for a Japan-based designer of Chinese origin Leonard Wong whose avant-garde dresses speak volumes about the norms of enigmatic magnetism everyone easily gets sucked into. His designs have been grandly shown in a promotional trailer for the movie “Ghost in the Shell”. For that matter, he even designed clothes for the Grammy Award-winning singer Lady Gaga for her single “Get Away”.

This tenacious attitude of Wong comes from nowhere but what goes on in his head and he follows it avidly. “I never tend to worry about what style my collections are going to be in. If truth be told, falling in love with a concept of avant-garde design for my garments wasn’t a conscious one. It just happened,” he says.

Wong’s incredible journey to become what he is today (a popular figure to be reckoned with when it comes to dictating which direction eccentric fashion moves in) started when he decided to move to Japan from China and enrolled at the esteemed Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo from where he graduated in 2013. “I’ve always been drawn to the magnificence of Japan; its vibrant art scene, traditions and most importantly the perfect fusion of the past and the future which fascinated me greatly,” he says. “I’ve great respect for Yoji Yamamato’s philosophy, and so I always wanted to graduate from the same college as he did.”

In fact, the cultural gap between the two countries has been the ultimate source of inspiration for his devilishly alluring designs. It’s no surprise when he stepped onto the plane headed to Japan, he felt totally blown away. “It seemed as if I had slipped into a wormhole and traveled through time into the future I was looking for myself,” he says. “I was quite over the moon.”

Wong’s designs often reflect a foreseeable lifestyle where the milieu seems to be quite contrasting and has a sinister feel to it all. So it’s a mishmash of the heavy leather and the sharp pronounced lines that give his collections a punch earning him a title (most find it incomprehensible) “fashion pugilist” to live with. But he loves it.

Defining his work as both artistic and technological, he has always looked at technology as just a sheer reflection of art, so he can’t separate the two. That’s how his work comes across as something potent and progressive. “My brand is all about showing the beauty of strength, looking inside the darkest corners of your heart, conquering your fears and overcoming everything with an evolving mindset,” Wong claims.

It’s not his style to aim the dresses at a certain group of people. Funnily though, he designs clothes that he would like his wife to wear in the first place.

Nevertheless, he is on a different mission too as he puts it candidly, “What I intend to do with the LW collections is that they are fit to be worn on a day-to-day basis. With this in mind, it’s not too long before we come up with a strategic plan to launch our SS LW collections.”

Although the comfort factor is also one of the things that he cares about deeply, his latest collection entitled “Experimental Line” veered from it and sought to focus more on the profundity of expressionism. But he says it again and again: “The LW collection is by and large very easy to wear with the nice weight of leather resting on your shoulders. There is no hardness.”

A lot of people have referred to his meticulous designs as cool, punchy, elegant, slap-you-in-the-face-gorgeous (the one comment that Wong finds very exciting), sharp, futuristic, otherworldly as well as powerful at high-profile exhibitions like Paris Collection 2014-15, Tokyo Fashion Week 2014, Milano Salone Tokyo Imagine 2014, Tokyo Design Week 2015 and Ambiance.

There is a mixture of things that is subconsciously stored in his mind he gets inspired by as he recalls, “When I sit in front of a blank sheet of paper, those ideas cleanly metamorphose into one or more unique designs.”

The volume of extraordinary curves that he plays with while designing his collections are simply spectacular. They are explicitly patterned. “I don’t find it difficult to work on curves because I love creating them. In case you don’t, it means you can either work with it or go completely against it,” he says.

Since his garments are made of nothing but leather and sometimes fur, he makes sure he imports the finest from across Japan and Europe. He prefers to use mostly black and white for his collections as he believes this combination gives them a futuristic air like no other color combinations can.

Another stunning collection that has emerged as part of his “Experimental Line” project is called “Cell Segregation” which is more of an edgy couture line reinstating the necessity of evolution. For this collection worthy of being admired, he teamed up with Peter Popps, a head spinning name in shoe department. “I capitalized on such a theme because you know humans are always curious about changing the environment around them. And then I wondered what the next exciting step would be other than evolving far ahead of the existing scenario using the power of technology,” he expresses.

As the brand moves toward becoming a global success since its launch in 2013, Wong has some great plans up his sleeve to make it more integrated with the rest of the world.

“There are many plans but the ones closest to my heart are having a catwalk of my collection in Paris and to have an exquisite branch in my hometown,” he says, adding that his designs’ vision very much fit in with that of Alexander McQueen in the mainstream fashion world.

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