Sometimes the universe intervenes to connect the dots. Serendipity is a generous marvel. Singer songwriter Griff exploded onto our radar with the endorsement of Taylor Swift, supporting the Eras tour in London. She went on to sell out her own headline shows at Alexandra Palace and then hit the mainstream with an anthemic performance of the nearly-didn’t-make-it-to-the-album track Last Night’s Mascara on the Graham Norton show on BBC1. It was one of those rare arrival performances that discreetly but unambiguously announces ‘I’m going to be a thing’. It gave Raye arrival vibes. And not just because Raye also had a breakthrough moment with mascara. (Sidenote, Maybelline needs to step up their product placement game…)
Griff appeared as an artist with no filter, dropping a track dressed in the costume of pop delivered with an unrestrained vocal that pleaded “would you look at me now” that seemed to hint at something… significant. And so we sat and waited with notifications turned on knowing that inevitably a music video was only a matter of time.
And then the promo dropped and we deep dived and found Candice Lo was behind the visuals. The video is a gloriously youthful celebration of regret, rebirth and that unmistakable morning after feeling when the comedown insecurity (paranoia?) kicks in and you ask yourself “would they still want me in the cold light of day?” And so we get to biography. Framings of Lo being born in Taiwan seem to miss the point, they’re lazy somehow, possibly irrelevant, or even inappropriate. The reductive assumption that there’s some truth hidden there. But, cautiously, we asked Lo if she felt there was a lasting significance in that detail that holds space in her work.
“I’d say my upbringing and culture have played a big role in shaping my visual identity and the way I direct today. Growing up in an engineer’s household and within Asian culture, subtext was deeply embedded in daily life. I can barely recall a time when my family or I ever said “I love you” or “I’m proud of you” to each other. However, that didn’t mean those feelings were absent – they were purely expressed through subtext, through hidden love in everyday actions.”
That ‘show don’t tell’ approach to emotional communication resonates across Lo’s work and was, perhaps, the force behind an exploratory fashion film she completed in the second year of her Fashion Styling and Production degree at London College of Fashion. The piece, which played with (then) Facebook (now Meta) status updates as a device to give context to intimate character portraits, caught the eye of SHOWStudio’s Nick Knight. And from there, the world was Lo’s oyster.
Above: Hoyeon, Louis Vuitton, Vogue Korea
“I borrowed a camera from campus, learned the basics of camera operation and editing through YouTube, and created my very first fashion film. It was really about exploring self-discovery through visual rebellion. I had this idea that I wanted to break cultural silence to celebrate identity, individuality, and unspoken emotions. After completing it, I sent it to SHOWstudio on a whim. A few weeks later, on my birthday while I was in Spain I received an email from Nick Knight himself, saying he’d love to publish it on SHOWstudio. It was one of the best birthday gifts I’ve ever received.”
The impact of this moment reverberates across Lo’s portfolio, with delicate, reflective, cautiously visceral commissions for brands from Cartier to Bulgari and Fendi. To typecast Lo as a fashion and luxury director, though, would be to entirely miss the depth and nuance of her voice, however. That’s not to say those clients and that cultural space lack purpose. Moreso, it’s a testament to her more deliberate intentions as a filmmaker – her careful and seemingly conscious commitment to gradually amplifying her voice.
Nowhere is this more evident than in her The Tinted Bloom series, an ongoing cathartic project that courageously seeks to take conversations around sexual assault and harassment out of the shadows. Powerful doesn’t seem adequate enough a term to evoke the bravery of Lo’s intention behind the work.
“The Tinted Bloom is deeply personal to me. It began as an attempt to reconcile with my past, but it evolved into something bigger- a space for collective healing and dialogue. I wanted to create a film that could express the emotions and complexities that words often fail to capture, especially in cultures where topics like sexual assault are met with silence. Revisiting my 14-year-old self’s experience at my school in Taiwan was difficult, but it was also necessary. The film [that launched the series] became a way to reclaim my own narrative, transforming pain into something poetic and, hopefully, meaningful for others who might see themselves in it. The visual imagery in The Tinted Bloom reflects that emotional journey and nature plays a significant role, mirroring the resilience and fragility of the human spirit.”
Above: The Tinted Bloom
Another serendipitous connection to Raye, who’s also spoken out about her own experiences of harassment within the music industry and who, incidentally, Lo has also shot for H&M. Which leads us to the topic of personal affinity with the artists and projects she takes on. Griff has embraced the cultural duality of her Jamaican and Vietnamese heritage and discussed how this has informed her identity and creativity. Was this sense of internal division something Lo felt offered a sense of simpatico?
“I definitely felt a connection with Griff on that level. Coming from an Asian background myself living in a Western country for a third of my life, I understand the nuances of navigating multiple cultural identities. While we didn’t explicitly discuss it, I think it naturally informed how we approached the video for Last Night’s Mascara. There’s a shared appreciation for storytelling through subtext – letting emotions unfold in a way that feels intimate and layered. That kind of storytelling really resonates with me, and I feel like it’s something Griff embodies in her artistry as well.”
Lo is in something of a unique position at this stage in her evolution as a director. The clarity and intention of her cinematography suggests a filmmaker far beyond her years. Her client credits certainly don’t read as being the foundation of a “new director” reel – far from it they provide endorsements and validations from some of the most selective image makers out there. But perhaps that’s the crux of what makes her work so compelling. Lo doesn’t come across as someone who’s seeking external validation. Her precision and clarity seem to come from a place of self-awareness. And that’s precisely what makes us so excited to see what comes next.
INTERVIEW BY STEPHEN WHELAN
