Cobra Kai's Lewis Tan on dressing like his disco dad

American fashion designer Mike Amiri presented his latest collection for his namesake label during Paris Fashion Week, spinning a collection that nodded to the soulful glamour of the 1960s and '70s. Shoulders were powerful, the colour palette was deliciously amber, ruby, amethyst, and chocolate brown, reminiscent of the sort of thing seen in The Nice Guys, and big face-covering shades were on.

It was a collection that, not only got the fashion pack excited about Amiri (check out X or Twitter to see the positive response to the ten-year-old brand's latest offering), but also the A-listers sitting Front Row, notably Lewis Tan.

The Cobra Kai actor was in attendance at the show, which had the coveted evening slot on the Thursday of Paris Fashion Week, and he couldn't have been more gassed about it. This collection in particular, from which he's wearing a look, resonates with him. "I love the way that the brand is developing its style," Tan told me via phone call, an hour after touching down in London following a stint in Thailand where he was practising Muay Thai ahead of an undisclosed role. "I’m a big fan of the Seventies and the collection has that kind of feel to me, but with a little twist."

His innate love for the late Sixties and early Seventies comes from his upbringing. Only 37-yeard-old, Tan wasn't actually alive in the decades that the Amiri AW'25 collection reflected, but he says he still felt that era in his household. "Most people know my father [actor and martial artist Phil Tan] for being a world champion martial artist, but actually he was the first ever Chinese disco dancing champion in London," he shares. "Consequently, I grew up around that type of music. Earth, Wind and Fire, Abba, soul and disco sere always playing in my house, and so I gravitate towards that style."

For the show, Tan wore a camel-hued, double-breasted wool coat with details on the lapel, an Amiri monogrammed cardigan and a white roll neck, with a pair of black billowing trousers and a square-fronted boot. It was Seventies in essence, but contemporary in design. "Style develops as you have a deeper understand of yourself and how you want to express yourself," he explains, citing the outfit as very him in colour and shape. "That understanding can either be expressed in a minimalistic way or a larger way. I think personal style is when you can just say ‘oh that’s them’ about someone and the way they dress. Unlocking that takes you to a higher level."

Tan has a deep love for fashion. Sure, he has a minimalistic capsule wardrobe himself (he splits his time between London and Los Angels and has duplicate two-foot wardrobes at each home), but he is fascinated by the relationship between film and fashion. Having been in some of the biggest action thrillers out there, from Cobra Kai to Mortal Combat, he's had his fair share of costumes. "Films have a big influence on my life and I see how they do on fashion," he explains. "I see how fashion is important to culture and self expression. Audrey Hepburn’s outfits became Vogue and they became Chanel. Movies and fashion have huge influences on eachother."

When approaching his own costumes for his films Tan is meticulous. "Doing the Woo Assassin series for Netflix, those clothes we picked carefully. Gucci designed some cool custom jewellery for me that was reflective of the character’s personality. I love seeing textures and layering, the way light reflects on textures. I’ll ask them to record me, I’ll move around a bit, just to see how the outfit reflects the light. I love Carey Grant’s re-quote from his father about wearing a suit". The said quote is "Let them see you and not the suit. That should be secondary."

With Mortal Combat 2 coming out this summer, and Copperhead - "my favourite work that I’ve done to date" - , a dramatic spy thriller with tonnes of action starring Lucien Laviscount and Hannah John Cayman, on its way, Tan will have plenty of press tour opportunities to get dressed up in the near future. We have a funny feeling he might be wearing some Seventies-inspired Amiri.

Photography: Pip Bourdillon

Styling: Olga Timofejeva

Now read an interview with Tosin Cole as he heads to the Louis Vuitton show

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