Seoul Fashion Week on its way to Asia's top runway
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Fashion models walk in the finale of Munsoo Kwon’s fall and winter collection “REMIND REWIND” at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in central Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation
By Kim Jae-heun
It’s that time again when fashionistas gather in Seoul for a glimpse of what fall and winter fashions are going to look like.
The 2016 Fall/Winter HERA Seoul Fashion Week kicked off Monday at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) and the former factory complex of Daesun Flour Mills in Mullae-dong, Seoul, featuring 41 catwalks of top local designers.
Over 1,000 international and domestic members of the press and 200 buyers from the local market and abroad have visited the country’s biggest fashion event to witness Asia’s leading market trends. Popular fashion media seen at the DDP include Vogue, W Magazine, L’Officiel Hommes and Dazed & Confused, while luxury department store merchandisers from Harrods, Selfridges and Barneys New York will join the Next Generation event in Mullae-dong, which will feature trade shows from this season.
Model Kanghui of YGKplus takes a selfie with a fan off the runway at DDP, Monday. / Courtesy of Sarah Jane Barnes
Veteran fashion designer Jung Ku-ho, who has reached his second season as executive director of Seoul Collection, gave a few fresh twists such as turning the Generation Next program into a business platform, having previously served as a gateway for rookie designers to debut. The fashion business channel is currently being held in a former factory building, while the DDP, located 40 minutes away by car, holds marketing-focused runways by established designers.
Jung also adopted a new barcode system to collect data on buyers’ performance in business trade and journalists’ participation during the week-long event. The director explained that the levels of buyers and press will be classified based upon the information amassed for future Seoul collection seasons, which he explained is a common system used at New York and European fashion weeks.
A baby dressed in Chicago Bull’s jersey poses outside the DDP, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Sarah Jane Barnes
Hit shows and must-go runways
Nohant, a first-year brand in the main collection, brought out unexpected excitement on the first day, followed by designer Munsoo Kwon’s namesake brand on the second day. Both brands proved why they were the main shows of each day.
Nohant by designer Nam No-ah successfully carried out simple and basic but hypnotically alluring clothing designs. Under the theme of “The Hotel Nohant,” Nam presented his signature sweatshirts, oversized padding jumpers and sweaters with red sleeves for the fall and winter season on the catwalk. The colors used varied between light pink, brown, dark brown and green based upon monotones.
Munsoo Kwon’s homage to 1990s popular culture and fashion in this collection took inspiration from the designer’s personal experience. The posh camel-tone coats and big denim jackets with “20th Century Boy” written in English reminded people of the days of the clock radio in the ’90s.
A model gets his make-up before the fashion show at Seoul Fashion Week, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Sarah Jane Barnes
A group of some 30 helpers gathered in front of the catwalk holding balloons and cheering for the models as they strutted the runway. The presentation resembled a common scene of fans with their idols often seen on television two decades ago.
“I loved the runway. They looked like they were having so much fun. I am wearing his sweater and I love it. I think he could make a great international brand,” said Caroline Issa, a fashion director and founder of Tank Magazine. “He told a great story (in his show). He could easily be in New York, London. He’s got such a strong point of view and I think that is so important. It comes across so quickly. I was really impressed.”
More designer brands with high expectations include Nohke, Beyond Closet and Blindness for Friday and Andy & Debb for Saturday.
Models are popular outside runways
A unique scene to watch at Seoul Fashion Week is the throngs gathered around fashion models for photos after they have finished the show.
Top models like Joo Woo-jae and Byeon Woo-seok of YGKplus model management, alone, have 385,000 and 115,000 followers on Instagram, respectively. The fans vary from young teenagers to those in their 20s and they come from across the globe as the models are active internationally.
Fashion brands sponsor clothing for popular models to wear offstage during the fashion event. The model-centric popularity is unique from Europe where street photographers shoot renowned magazine editors or fashion moguls.
Donald Potard, dean of the Fashion Design Department at Paris College of Art, said the power of social media has already proven significant in current fashion reality as many houses ask for the number of followers that a model has on Instagram before casting.
However, not only fashion models are the subject of photographers, but any well-dressed fashionistas grab eyes at DDP.
Room for improvement
There are currently over 70 fashion weeks held around the world and only four are well-known — New York, London, Paris and Milan. Many cities vie for inclusion in the group as the world’s fifth top fashion event.
Sara Maino, the senior editor of Vogue Italy, advised Seoul Fashion Week to reduce the number of runways and focus on presenting shows with impact.
“I have been working as fashion editor for 20 years and I’ve participated in top European fashion weeks,” said Maino during a seminar themed “Globalization of K-Fashion and Case Studies of Some Prestigious International Fashion Brands” at the DDP, Wednesday. “I think the shows are way too long. You need to shorten it and put more energy to focusing on personal attitude. Moreover, I would say please travel and be curious and become creative.”
The editor added that Korean designers have to communicate with the world and learn second languages to produce global brand. She added that she will try to learn Korean.
Sarah Jane Barnes is a freelance British photographer contributing to Gentlemen’s Quarterly (GQ) and Ask Men. She could be reached on her Instagram at instagram/sarahjanebarnesphotographer.