About

怪 (kai or kwai)
談 (dan)

Strange, mysterious, rare, or bewitching apparition 談Talk or recited narrative

The brand is rooted in Creative Director Léa Dickely’s personal experience of not recognising herself in traditional female stereotypes. Kwaidan Editions embodies the decision to leave these definitions behind, and instead explore what it looks and feels like for a woman to be truly unencumbered.

Established in 2017, Kwaidan Editions reinterprets ghosts of the past to express the uncanny present – the strange times we live in. Kwaidan Editions alludes to the eponymous occult film by Masaki Kobayashi (1965). By synthesizing disparate cultural references and unusual materials, Kwaidan Editions evokes the uncanny, supernatural atmosphere of the film.

Kwaidan Editions envisions a world where women can express their interiority and experience true freedom—freedom from boundaries, constructs, and expectations. The intention is to provide women with the visual language to reflect their own personal exploration of what it means to be a woman in today’s society.

The brand is inspired by the uncanny. It explores the delicate line in between the Discarded / Cherished, the Tasteful / Kitsch, the Masculine / Feminine and the Sophisticated / Crude. It is a vulnerable and uneasy space full of tension and wonder. Kwaidan Editions deals with the complexities and identity of being a woman in today’s world.