Committee

TU LY
TULYCREATE.COM

Straddling cultures, disciplines, and media, Tu Ly quietly and confidently creates. Wired with a passionate focus whether he’s designing, imaging, or brand building, Ly’s indelible footprint as Designer and Creative Director on the style landscape looms large.

A poster boy for the new global voyager, the Saigon-born, Toronto-based Ly both by fate and fortune is trans-cultural and international.

For three consecutive Olympic Games, Beijing 2008, Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 Ly served as Hudson’s Bay Company Olympic designer for Team Canada. Ly scored gold with his graphic red and white uniforms. Drawing accolades from the toughest critics-the athletes themselves, the designer’s Olympic collection with its uniquely Canadian perspective yielded commercial success for the Hudson’s Bay Company both at home and at the Games.

At the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Ly was introduced to Figure Skater Patrick Chan and presented with the opportunity to re-image and design the Canadian Champion’s competition costumes. The collaboration provided Ly with a unique challenge; the application of conceptual design to high performance garments. Working within the parameters of the sport’s demands and conscious of the skating world’s aesthetic – Ly as designer has created an innovative performance wardrobe for the Athlete. The collaboration is a resounding success. Wearing Ly’s premier skating designs Patrick Chan recently won Gold at the Beijing Grand Prix Finals, and will continue to wear Tu Ly’s directional costume stylizations until The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

In April 2006, Ly inked a deal with the venerable American retail institution Saks Fifth Avenue.
As Designer of private label collections, Ly creates timeless classics for 40 Saks locations and works with Italy’s premier cashmere mill Loro Piana.

Jet setting to exotic destinations, Ly serves as art director on all advertising campaigns for Ports 1961; celebrity-favorite fashion brand. For its impeccably handsome and identifiable global campaigns photographed in Reykjavik, Cairo, The Serengeti and Buenos Aires, Ly has engaged the talents of super-models Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss. As well, Ly produced and styled the Ports 1961 runway shows held during New York Fashion Week at the tents in Bryant Park.

Ly enjoyed a two-year tenure as Roots Canada’s Design Director in 2000. He developed The Roots Passport Collection, built on needs of the sophisticated, urban professional, and a major departure from Roots’ casual sportswear collections.

In 1999, identifying a niche that was absent in the fashion marketplace, Ly conceived the SAMPLE concept. A luxurious knitwear collection for all seasons that would form the cornerstone of his “Uber Sweater Bar” concept, with boutiques located in New York and until recently Los Angeles. SAMPLE is a modern fashion philosophy that has found favour with Keira Knightley, Nicole Kidman and Jessica Alba.

Dubbed a “fashion prodigy” at the age of 16 by The Ottawa Citizen, Ly left his hometown for Toronto, graduating from Ryerson University with a slew of awards under his designer belt. A national name, Ly has been covered by Fashion Television, MuchMusic, Fashion File, WWD, Flare, The Toronto Star, National Post, CBC News; Sunday and a twenty-minute segment on The National.