SEOUL FASHION WEEK SPRING 2014

A place where people continue to shop at four in the morning, Seoul, an Asian hub and exporter of high-quality and technical textiles for quite some time, is now a city set on staking out a spot for itself on the increasingly crowded fashion calendar.

Like the upsurge of new vision throughout the Seventies and early Eighties riding on a wave from Tokyo, and the surprise felt in the creativity that came out of Antwerp just after Japan, the collections shown during Seoul Fashion Week all tell stories, and all the while sustain a balance between the conceptual and commercial.

One of the first collections to show, Paul & Alice began with a play between the masculine and feminine inspired by Pina Bausch. Oversized navy knits, deconstructed and reconstructed floral prints, and oversized pinstripe cotton linen suits produced a feeling of homage to Korean style from the late Eighties, when Chanel suits were a staple.

Parkchoonmoo, the chief brand behind the transformation away from stiff shapes for the past twenty-five years in the East, continued to show deconstructed silhouettes. Effortlessly layered silk chiffon blouses blended with black-and-white cotton linens, and soft leather knits were dreamily draped underneath silk mesh and organza jackets in shades of silver, azure blue, and ocean green.

While Lie Sang Bong focused on a more classic feminine beauty in the complex geometries found in florals, younger talents focused on younger generations. The Spring collection from Kye commented on the current fascination in Korean youth culture with plastic surgery and body mutilation. Double eyelid procedures were surreally shown with spliced black, white, and skin-toned shirting and sliced skirts covered in black and golden bandages, whereas a more light-hearted Wonder Anatomie.—with three-dimensional sports jerseys—and the ever-popular Pushbutton presented collections created for an escalating captivation in K-Pop with pullovers in bright reds and blues, summoning Sailor Moon’s Moon Crystal Power, and an even more whimsical off-white Creamsicle print.

However, the strongest in street style, and also one of the most refined on the runway, was the sixth collection from the 29-year-old, independent, and self-financed Nohke J designer, Mi Sun Jung. Apparently compared to Alexander Wang in Korea, Jung is perhaps a more elegant iteration, mixing contradictory materials and maintaining a deep interest in time and the way clothes transform according to the body that wears them. Although sticking to her strength in strictly-tailored silhouettes, Spring centered around a more fluid movement found in shadows, combining contrasting fabrics that effortlessly found a natural fit in each other and synthesizing silk and lace with linen, leather, and rayon mesh in shades of black, white, cobalt blue, and ghostly grays. It’s no wonder she is listed as one of Seoul’s most prominent “Generation Next” designers.

Also allowing women to create their own character through flexible and accessible clothes that balance art and design, Moon Young Hee presented a collection of exaggerated cotton volumes and sculpted silk chiffon shapes. With a delicate origami-like refinement similar to Haider Ackermann and a dreamy mix of mesmerism and storytelling like that of AF Vandevorst, Hee showed sapphire blue silk and gilded Oriental screen gold silk oversized trench coats and blazers atop buoyant and billowing black silk organza crumpled blouses and trousers. Materializing a modern woman in a forward fashion—while sticking true to her story without losing the formula of her brand in the luxe circus that fashion has become—the designer settled her more extravagant silhouettes with white sneakers, offsetting the sophistication and keeping the collection feeling down-to-earth, relatable, and young.

We leave New York every season for London, then move to Milan, and eventually find ourselves in France, somewhere along the way hearing an old song made new again or a new song that sticks in our head, reinvigorating our enervated veins. For me, it was Raffertie’s “Last Train Home” from Moon Young Hee. For others, it could be the popular upsurge in the K-Pop phenomenon. Considering that art, and fashion, and music go hand-in-hand—and far as it may be from other fashion weeks—there’s a fresh wave coming in from Korea.

Michael Schwartz, an account manager at NOUVEAU-PR, New York, writes about art, fashion, and travel as a contributing freelance editor for Dossier, Remix, and a variety of other publications. He grew up just outside of Washington D.C., and is currently based out of Manhattan.

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Left: Pushbutton Right: Kye

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