SEOUL – Seoul is a powerful and wealthy mega-city with
a large consumer base–that means there’s a huge appetite for
branded luxury goods. The city’s Cheongdam-dong, a 12-lane wide boulevard, is lined
with so many luxury shops that it’s earned nickname ‘Street of
Luxury Goods.’
The 10 Corso Como on Cheongdam-dong, which opened in
2008 in partnership with Samsung Cheil (the Samsung Fashion Group),
is even larger than the Milan flagship. Due to high demand for
avant-garde fashion, a second 10 Corso Como opened just last month
at the high-end mall Lotte Avenuel, joining Prada, Givenchy, Dior,
Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin and more. (OP Note: Great coverage of
the place with 1 or 2 idol snaps from Banana Milk & Aureta )
Despite the obvious appetite for luxury designs, there seems
to be an absence of good risk-taking design in Seoul. Take the
skyline, for example. It lacks any visible and symbolic monuments
to creative architecture. Daniel Libeskind’s Tangent Facade Design
for The Hyundai Development Company, a steel circle encompassing a
grid of red and white lines,or Unsangdong Architects’ Kring
Creative Culture Space with its rippled and layered circular
windows, are Seoul’s architectural stand outs among a sea of office
towers and residential high rises. Imagine finding your way home
late at night when all the buildings look exactly alike save for a
number on the side of each building?
A similar mindset seems to operate in fashion in Seoul as
well. Most of the designers showing at Seoul fashion week seemed
bent on the commercial side of fashion rather than exploring the
creative.
While their clothes will surely to sell in the domestic
market, many of these designers lacked sufficient design breath and
original thinking to compete in the global fashion market. The
emphasis here is on producing sellable clothes rather than creating
interesting and innovative collections.
Studio K
“The design aspect of the clothes are important but from the
perspective of customers who have to purchase the clothes, it is
very critical to have the basic items that are well done and with a
twist,” said Hong Hye Jin of Studio K at her all-in-one
showroom, studio and shop. “Design is important from one side and
tailoring is important on another.”
The collection she showed had beautifully made long dresses,
and tailored suits with slim lapels on jackets. On the walls of her
emporium, above the range of men’s suits, are framed black and
white photographs each zooming on the detailed process of creating
the perfect jacket. Her sensible approach
to fashion is common ground for designers here, especially
those who have not ventured abroad either for school, or to work
with other designers, or to show their collections in Paris or New
York.
I have mentioned in previous reports from Seoul that there is
a gulf separating those Korean designers who have significant
experience living and working abroad versus those who remained at
home. Those who have embrace globalism, like Songzio,
Juun J., Wooyoungmi, and Park Choon Moo, have
been able to slowly build their collection beyond the domestic
market.
Lie Sang Bong
No one understands this better than Lie Sang Bong who
started his collection in 1985 and who has been showing in Paris
every season since 2002.
“The most attractive reason for joining both Paris and Seoul
Fashion Week is that I can express my inspirations in varieties of
ways,” said Lie Sang Bong. “For example, the theme is strongly
emphasized with only the essential pieces used to create a perfect
mood of the show in Paris. Hence the looks for the Seoul Fashion
show are more diverse and entertaining with strong performances and
more showmanship for the Korean fans. By joining more fashion shows
in different places, I believe I can express my inspiration in
varieties of ways according to their style and the culture.”
His new collection, made locally with fabrics specially
developed in Korea, is based on the Doi Dam, old Korean stone
walls. The stones became the inspiration for the charcoal makeup
covering the models’ faces and the 3D embroideries and patterns on
jackets, skirts and dresses. A stretch silk dress embroidered with
black shiny stones was a highlight.
As a fashion designer working in Seoul, Mr. Lie is an
exception and there is no comparison.
Traditional Korean culture has influenced Mr. Lie’s previous
collections, notably the Hangeul collections where the Korean
alphabet made up the prints. The intersection of tradition and
modernity is central to all of Mr. Lie’s work, and as such his
fashion attempts to connect different cultures and peoples
together. In this respect he is the foremost ‘international’ of the
Korean designers at the moment.
“For me, [Paris] is a door to promote my country and the
culture to international people from all around the world,” he
said. “And I also get inspired by their culture through their
feedback.”
General Idea
“Showing my collection in New York since 2006 has completely
changed my business and in some ways I have managed to develop a
wider range for the collection,” said Choi Bum Suk of
General Idea. “Before New York, I was selling in three countries
and after that first show there I expanded to 15 in one
season.”
Mr. Choi’s personal style (he was wearing an old drawn-on army
jacket and black jeans) is a mixture of vintage and streetwear–and
this is reflected in his collection and his brand. For this fall,
he focused on the leisure clothes worn by athletes after a
game–like a dark green plaid wool coat with orange leather sleeves
worn with gray sweat pants.
Leyii
“I was really inspired by fencing competitions from the 18th
century and the emphasis on the structures and forms of the clothes
rather than the actual fighting,” said Lee Sung Hee of Leyii
in a perfect English accent honed at Central Saint Martins. A long white wool coat with
large lapels worn with slim black pants, and a shorter wide lapel
coat worn with a black chiffon dress were standouts at her
show.
Lee Doii
Another Central Saint Martins graduate, Ms. Lee Doii
worked in various Paris ateliers before launching her own
collection in 2008. Ms. Doii continued her romantic and ultra
feminine clothes, with this collection centered on delicate
dresses.
Steve J and Yoni P
Steve Jung and Yoni Pai of Steve J and Yoni P
(also CSM grads) established their trendy contemporary collection
while at school in 2006. Steve and Joni embraced space age futurism
with colorful printed sweat suits and vinyl sweaters over white
lace skirts.
In Seoul, both the Metropolitan and the state government invest
heavily to ensure the success of these designers. Seoul City
sponsored the bi-annual shows by providing the show space location
to all designers and, in collaboration with the Ministry of
Culture, sent designers abroad as a group like Concept Korea.
But fashion isn’t tourism and applying principles of vacation
and sight seeing promotions to fashion isn’t feasible. There has to
be a long-term view: That of helping the designers to establish
outposts abroad. To export the designers have to be competitive on
quality and creativity. More importantly, it is critical for them
to participate in the global dialogue of fashion.
Perhaps the government should view their help to Korean
fashion as a small-scale foreign aid program but one without any
stringent conditions attached. Promising designers should get help
to go abroad–whether it’s Paris or New York. Time should be spent
with key buyers and influential press to foster a familiarity with
their brand.
“European fashion has a reputation as the finest in the world,
so it is very important for young designers in Seoul to go study
abroad,” said Lie Sang Bong. “Many Korean young designers want to
gain global prominence as they know the importance of the
collections in Europe. Good thing Lie Sang Bong is the head of the
newly created Union of Korean fashion designers.
Source: Fashionista
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