There’s always been a pull toward contrast, maybe that’s why Alexander McQueen stays close to my imagination. The drama, the emotion, the tension in his work… it never sits still. It makes you feel something. I still think, even now, I’d go back and intern there in a heartbeat, just to be in that energy, to understand how something so intense is built with such precision.

For Leon, it’s Viktor & Rolf. Not just designers, but artists. With them, garments don’t stop at clothing, they become objects, sculptures, sometimes even worlds of their own. There’s a kind of fearlessness in how they create, where fashion blurs into art, into storytelling, into something almost surreal.

And then there’s the moment that never really leaves us, Princess Diana and her wedding gown. It still feels relevant, still referenced, still alive in design conversations today. That contrast, between volume and softness, tradition and individuality, shifted how we see the white gown. It wasn’t just ceremonial anymore, it became expressive. Personal. Almost like the dress carried as much character as the person wearing it.

Maybe that’s what stays with us, this idea that design isn’t static. It moves, it evolves, it holds time within it. And somehow, it always finds its way back to the wearer.

— Karan & Leon, Karleo
A quiet balance of heart and mind.