Hong Kong-based designer Six Lee’s new collections feature an overall idea of layering. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"All of a sudden, I realized that I wanted to be a fashion designer," Lee states.

He enrolled in a foundation course in Cornwall after learning about the school in a British education fair in Hong Kong. "I wanted to go to a place that was completely different from my hometown. My university was 10 minutes from the sea and in a retirement community," he says.

While in the United Kingdom, Lee encountered Belgium designers and found their work conceptual and intriguing. Although he had to study Dutch for a year to master the language, he persevered so he could study at Antwerp's renowned Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Its graduates include Dries Van Noten and Ann Demeulemeester, designers Lee admired.

"It was a really tough program," Lee remembers. "We had to take two days of exams. Our drawing skills had to be excellent. Some 600 candidates sit those exams but the school only accepts 60. The number of students is halved every year of the four-year program, with only 10 people graduating annually. I didn't think I would be one of those 10!

"I learned a lot about my own personality - what I liked and disliked. I discovered that I loved designing menswear since it has a lot of rules and is more challenging. I enjoy using traditional 18th- and 19th-century British tailoring techniques."

The head of menswear for Alexander McQueen was in his grad show's audience and invited Lee to work in London for the label. He was there for just under a year, working on everything from pattern making to mock-ups to liaising with garment factories. After McQueen committed suicide, the label was in a state of flux. Lee decided to return to Hong Kong instead of waiting it out in England.

"Living in London was demanding," he says. "Rent and food costs are high, but I couldn't get a second job to support myself because my work was so intensive."