SEOUL CYCLE
First there was K-film, then K-pop and K-beauty. As a collective of fashion brands gain loyalists outside their native South Korea, all eyes are on a burgeoning fashion capital. By Jen Nurick.
WHERE WOULD WE land if we returned from the future to look back to now? Certainly, it could be Seoul. Back in the 2010s, before Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite won Best Picture at the Academy Awards and K-pop band BTS broke Billboard records, a contingent of new labels established South Korea as fashion’s next frontier. But only now is the world taking note.
“It has been building up for a while,” says Eunhye Shin, who founded Le17Septembre in 2013 after gaining a following through blogging. Australian e-store My Chameleon added the label, identifiable by its collarless jackets and classic shirting, to its mix in 2019. “Society is becoming more multicultural, people are nurturing different ideas. Fashion is leading the mingling of the international community.” Hers is just one of the labels Net-a-Porter launched in its Korean Collective in October 2019. Four-year-old label Gu_de, Andersson Bell and Pushbutton also belong to its repertoire, and between them lay claim to international stockists like Ssense, Shopbop and Farfetch.
This uptick in demand may well have been prophesied by Koreanfounded W Concept, a marketplace to discover brands from the peninsula. Founded offline in 2006, it transitioned into e-commerce in 2011. That same year, W Concept added minimalist label Low Classic to its list (its spring/summer ’20 collection recently sold out on Moda Operandi). The platform has also popularised brands like 1064 Studio and Kindersalmon and cultivated mainstream interest, replacing them from the periphery and putting Seoul Fashion Week on the map.
“We remain dedicated to bringing local Korean designers to the Western market,” explains Yoona Park, W Concept’s associate marketing manager. “When we first launched [our e-commerce] in the US in 2016, there were no other retailers carrying Korean designers. [Nowadays] Andersson Bell, Low Classic, Margesherwood, Reike Nen and more are being picked up by top e-commerce powers in the fashion world.” But why has interest simmered until now?
“Brands like Low Classic and Andersson Bell are easily digested by Western consumers,” reflects Park. Social media and price points have also helped germinate brand awareness in the last few years. Park also links recent momentum to the structured yet oversized cuts and androgynous aesthetic Koreans favour, styles seen increasingly on runways. We have the instalment of Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta to thank (at least in part), while the rise of labels like Peter Do and The Row, with their affinity for subdued palettes and minimalist tailoring, mirror the sensibilities of some Korean designers. Shin is familiar with these tropes: “I try to show Korean traditional delicacy [by using] the tie knot or concaving lines of the arms and shoulders.” She cites traditional Korean clothing and architecture as inspirations.
For Minju Kim, who founded her namesake label in 2014 and recently won Netflix’s Next in Fashion, any cultural inflections palpable in her clothes are subconscious. “South Korean designers are very talented at tailoring,” she explains, reflecting a cultural preference for clothing driven by longevity, not trends. She adds that buyers have related her silhouettes to hanbok, or traditional Korean dress, despite her having lived abroad. “The clothes bring out this Asian aesthetic. People can feel my culture from the way we tailor, the oversized style and mix of fabric.” Her winning collection comprised of silk-twill mini-dresses and taffeta peplum jackets is almost sold out on Net-A-Porter.
Hyun-min Han, Münn’s creative director, acknowledges that art, film and music have stimulated the K-fashion boom. He cites KoreanAmerican artist Nam June Paik’s exhibition in London’s Tate Modern as an example; designer Rejina Pyo’s dedicated London Fashion Week slot another. “Korean culture has found new international audiences in recent years,” he says. “There was a time in the 80s when Westerners were crazy about Japanese fashion … I expect Korea will have such a day in the future.” Fortunately for consumers today, access to international brands is considered exciting, and purity of design is top of mind. Perhaps the future is now.