A love letter to Lee Lin Chin
Chin-spiration from Australia's final boss of personal style.
Some good news recently came across my feed, a welcome change from the usual Italian brain rot, recession indicators, and skinnytok content algorithmically spewed at me.
After an almost year-long ban following a pro-Palestine post, the great Lee Lin Chin’s Instagram account has been reactivated. If you didn’t grow up in the 90s watching the news in Australia, you might not be aware of this cultural and fashion phenomenon.
Allow me…
One of the very few Asians regularly featured on TV within the overwhelmingly white Australian media, Lee Lin presented SBS World News for thirty years. She covered the most important stories across the globe wearing asymmetrical, architectural, and avant-garde outfits from an extensive Comme des Garçons and Yohji Yamamoto archive.
Her soothing yet no-nonsense tone and iconic looks made her a staple in many households, including mine. I remember as a kid, my mum would always call me out of my room whenever she was on TV, yelling, “KAYLA! COME SEE WHAT LEE LIN HAS GOT ON TODAY!” so I could soak in the off-beat charm of her inside-out blazers, colored glasses, and askew necklines.
In the 2010s, Lee Lin gained a cult following among millenials, who crowned her Australia's premiere bad bitch due to her hilarious Twitter presence where she documented her love of sex and beer alongside delivering scathing critiques of right-wing politicians. Seeing Lee Lin back on the gram feels like the internet is slowly healing and that social media isn’t exclusively AI slop.
When looking for outfits that capture the essence of Lee Lin, I went through her Fashionista series from 2010, which you can still find on SBS and Apple TV. Also nestled within the internet archives, I stumbled across a gem of a blog, Chinnystyle, which documented her 2009-2010 newscaster fits. Authors and curators ChinnyEm and ChinnyPea - thank you for your service!
The homogeneity of internet-era dressing and pre-packaged style has sorta taken the fun out of fashion writing (you may have clocked my apathy from a longer-than-usual newsletter hiatus). This post isn’t about prescribing “how to have a Lee Lin Chin summer.” Instead, I’m interested in unlocking LLC’s pre-algorithm style code, which has given me some much-needed inspo…
Dramatic headwear
It makes sense to kick things off with this look from the 2016 Logies (that’s Australia’s TV awards for those of you playing at home. LLC was the first newsreader ever nominated for the Gold Logie). I’ve not checked in on the red carpet looks of these awards in some time, but back then, it was typically a snoozefest in Alex Perry gowns. Not for our girl who shut it down in a black Yohji Yamamoto bee keeper in mourning hat and lace capris.
Another unconventional headpiece gem - Australian milliner Naomi Goodsir crafted this fascinator out of blue straws for our queen.
Flip it and reverse it
LLC is a big believer in outfit repeating and getting mileage out of items by wearing them the wrong way. On TV, she flipped her blazers inside out, subverting a typical news anchor's boring, strictly business aesthetic.
It’s a statement on buying well-constructed pieces by putting their bones on display. I love this deconstructed effect with visible tags and seams, and how the reversed collars create new neckline shapes. Which brings us to…
Wonky necklines
A key LLC takeaway is that symmetry is overrated, which speaks to me as a perpetually asymmetrical girlie living in a perfection-demanding society. In addition to her inside-out outerwear, Lee Lin champions off-kilter necklines with draping, structure, and texture.
Volume is your bestie
I’ve previously mentioned that I don’t buy into the getting your colors done or dressing for your body shape propaganda. Neither does Lee Lin, who at a petite 5ft 2 is more than comfortable playing with oversized proportions, which adds to the dress-up-box quality of her looks.
This is probably my favorite LLC look. All the details are immaculate. The green hair, the coat lining, the tiered skirt, and the red boots - perfection! I also love how this is the same outfit as above, just styled differently for off-duty!
Dressed for battle - LLC does Castlecore.
Classic prints
Given how OTT LLC leans in silhouettes, she keeps prints pretty classic, usually favoring polka dots or the occasional stripe. The absence of clashing prints, which you’d usually expect from such a maxamlist, makes her architectural wardrobe all the more impactful, in my humble opinion.
Accessorize, obvs
Outside of her signature colored glasses, LLC favors silly sunglasses, bow ties, and plastic rings.
Extra points for matching your car to your shoes.
Finally, when in doubt, dress as a Bond villain. I love when she plays with the darker side of fashion, like with this structured circular dress for an Australian Lamb commercial.
And her final SBS broadcast in 2018 - signing off like the legend she is in this futuristic black vinyl work of art.
While I'm not sure what's next for Lee Lin, I hope her return to socials marks the beginning of more unforgettable fashion moments. Given the rise of mature models in major campaigns, designers are overdue to book her for upcoming collections.
As the personal style crisis era continues, Lee Lin is a beacon of editorial inspiration. Check out Russh magazine paying homage to her fashion chops for their Taste Issue in 2021. This is what I want more of. Please and thank you.
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Such a delightful read!
Welcome back!!! Something I realised when I started getting bored of 'streetstyle' years ago was that the most inspirational dressers are the ones whose actual job isn't 'getting dressed' (this is distinct from models), and LLC fits that exactly, also everything about her is queenly to the core, from her bearing to her taste to her being banned from ig for a pro-Palestine post.
Love the details like the ribbons on her red boots with the white outfit and even the reworns like her bronze flats with the beekeeping hat outfit+ with the big tiered white skirt (dress?) on the red carpet