Press

Press and media resources for WONGSO. Everything on this page is cleared for editorial use. If you need something that isn't here, email info@wongso.store and we'll send it the same day.

The short version

50 words. WONGSO is a queer menswear label making sheer lace kimonos, festival co-ords and resort wear for men who would rather be seen than blend in. It was founded in 2023 by Stefanus Wongso, who is Chinese Indonesian by heritage and has lived across Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Made in small batches, sizes S to L, shipping worldwide.

150 words. WONGSO is a queer menswear label built on a simple idea: lace, mesh and sheer fabric belong on men. Not as costume, and not once a year at Pride, but as clothes you actually wear to a festival, a beach club, or a rooftop at 2am.

Founded in 2023, the label works in small batches rather than seasons. Its references come from founder Stefanus Wongso's own path. He is Chinese Indonesian by heritage and has lived across Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, and the clothes borrow freely from all of it: batik, lacework, the cut of a kimono. Each capsule is built as a system of pieces designed to layer together, so a single kimono works over a co-ord by night and over swim shorts by day.

Pieces are priced to be worn hard rather than shelved, and ship worldwide. Sizes run S to L, cut for a menswear fit rather than adapted from a unisex block.

Fast facts

  • Brand nameWONGSO (always capitalised)
  • Founded2023
  • FounderStefanus Wongso, Founder and Designer
  • CategoryQueer menswear: festival wear, resort wear, lace and mesh
  • PositioningAccessible queer menswear, not luxury-priced. Live prices on the site adjust by market.
  • SizesS, M, L
  • ShippingWorldwide
  • Websitewongso.store
  • Instagram@wongso.store
  • Press contactinfo@wongso.store
  • Legal entityWONGSO LIMITED, Hong Kong

Story angles

If you're looking for a hook rather than a product roundup, these are the ones we can speak to properly and on the record.

  • Festival fashion is a womenswear category. In retail, "festival wear" means fringe, sheer and sequins cut for women; menswear is an afterthought. The queer party-wear that does exist for men mostly stops at underwear and swim. So almost nobody makes the sheer lace kimono or the festival co-ord, cut for a man, as the actual outfit. That is the gap WONGSO is built for.
  • The kimono as a genuinely gender-fluid garment. Not a costume reference and not a robe. A layering piece with real drape that happens to carry no gender assumption at all.
  • Its references have no single home. The founder is Chinese Indonesian by heritage and has lived across Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. Batik, lace, the kimono: the collection borrows from all of it, pulled together by one person's path rather than a trend forecast.
  • We don't print fibre percentages we haven't had tested. Where a composition isn't lab verified, we name the fibre type and say so plainly. It is a small position, but in a category where exact-sounding percentages are routinely invented, we'd rather be checkable than precise.

Founder

Before WONGSO, Stefanus Wongso spent Tuesday mornings on a commute to Yahoo!, prepping for a 9am meeting, and evenings styling clients on the side. He started the label in 2023 for a reason most designers claim and few can name precisely: he could not find anything he actually wanted to wear.

His rule is a cascade. If a piece is not interesting by colour, it should be interesting by silhouette. If not silhouette, then texture. If not texture, then print. What he found on the high street was the same basic cut in a different basic colour, so he shopped the women's section instead.

The first piece he made was for himself. It was the Festival Lace Shirt, built for a circuit party: sheer enough to be sultry, cut like a tank, made in lace.

He designs from images rather than mood boards. The High Slit Lace Kimono in COVEN came out of Angelina Jolie at the 2012 Oscars, one leg out of a black Versace gown.

He has recently begun appearing in the label's campaign images himself. On the timeline, he is blunt.

"There is no such thing as overnight success. Overnight success is made in a decade."

The hardest thing he has built? Yes. The most creatively fulfilling? "Abso-fucking-lutely."

Stefanus is available for interview, written Q&A and product loans for editorial shoots.

Current collection: COVEN

COVEN launches 1 September 2026. It is a black and leopard capsule built around a found family rather than a trend, and it lands three weeks before the new season of American Horror Story: Coven premieres on 24 September. WONGSO is not affiliated with or licensed by that show.

Black for the one who never wavered. Leopard for the ones who refuse to hide.

See the COVEN collection

Images

High resolution campaign and product images are cleared for editorial use with a credit to WONGSO. Photographer credits where they apply are listed inside the pack.

Download the WONGSO press image pack

Using our name

  • Write the brand as WONGSO, in capitals. Not Wongso, not WongSo.
  • WONGSO LIMITED is the legal entity and belongs only in company or registration contexts, never in editorial copy about the clothes.
  • We are a menswear label. We are happy to be described as queer, and we would rather not be described as unisex, which is not what the fit is cut for.

Get in touch

Editorial requests, samples, interviews and image requests all go to info@wongso.store. We answer everything, usually within a day.