What goes around comes back around, and that includes the beloved 2000s jewelry brand Chan Luu. These days, the LA-born label is back under a different creative director, but not too removed from its original iteration, with Luu’s niece Tessa Tran holding the reins as the brand’s artistic director.

Tran, who started off as her aunt’s intern at the brand after graduating from FIT, has slowly risen through the ranks of the business. In 2014, after Luu sold a majority of her stake in the company to private investors, Tran stayed on, then fully bought back her family business in 2023.

Since then she’s revived the once beloved boho label into a ready-to-wear brand that still has the same artisan-first mentality her aunt had 25 years ago. Everything is still made in the same factories that her aunt used in India and Vietnam.

“As we’ve grown, our factories have grown with us, becoming a generational family business both for me and them,” she said.

While Tran has shown at New York Fashion Week for the past few seasons in a presentation format, the designer’s approach to fashion is different to most on the calendar. She’s not quite looking to do a show yet, though that isn’t off the cards in the future.

Unlike brands trying to trend-set and sell new styles season after season, she aims to create pieces that will remain a part of people’s wardrobes for years to come. “I’m not looking to create anything that you just wear for one season.

I want my customers to buy something that’s special and beautiful and when you understand the history of it, you can’t let go of it,” she said. There are always new styles, but in each lookbook you’ll still find beloved classics like the “techno taffeta pant,” perhaps with an updated colorway.

The creative director styles each of her lookbooks with her natural ease for mixing and matching even the most unlikely of pieces. Being LA-born and raised, there’s a California ease and effortlessness to each of her looks, providing “sensuality without effort,” as her show notes say.

While everything may look dressy with its hand-embroidered beads and sequins, once worn everything feels comfortable thanks to loose but flattering fits. Board shorts come elevated and made with a cotton organdy, appearing slightly sheer and ultra lightweight for an easy fit.

Kaftan-like dresses look polished, and not like they belong on the beach.

Accessories, which have always been a key part of Chan Luu, still play a strong role. While the beaded wrap bracelet is no longer having its glory days in 2026, there is now elegant and one-of-a-kind jewelry.

For next spring there will be a lot more seashells and mother-of-pearl earrings which have come to become a trademark for the brand as well as a handful of hand beaded brooches. “What I like about the pieces is that you can layer them together, or you can meld them with other things and other brands,” said Tran.

“It’s not a singular show.”