2017 Seoul Fashion Week streamed live

A model walks on the catwalk at MUNSOOKWON’s fashion show during the 2017 Spring Summer Hera Seoul Fashion Week held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, last Wednesday. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation

By Kim Jae-heun

The Seoul Fashion Week, headed by Executive director Jung Ku-ho for the third time, that ended its 5-day festival celebrating the successful hosting of 41 designer runways and six fashion firms’ catwalks last week.

Some 100 brands participated in the fashion week’s trade show Generation Next (GN), where 21 rookie designers held fashion shows in groups of two at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, central Seoul.

“The 2017 S/S Hera Seoul Fashion Week was streamed live to the world and it was a festival where both young and veteran designers showcased wonderful runway shows to promote Korean fashion abroad,” said Jung during the finale ceremony held at Park Hyatt hotel in Seoul, Saturday.

During the finale party, Jung announced 10 designers of the year as part of his “SEOUL’S 10SOUL” project to send them broad. The nominated fashion designers include Shin Kyu-yong of “Blindness,” who was picked by 38 buyers unanimously, and Hera Seoulist awardee Jo Eun-hye of “Bourie,” plus Kang Dong-jun of “D.GNAK” and more.

Last year, Jung brought SEOUL’S 10SOUL designers to open a pop-up store in French multi-shopping store called L’ECLAIREUR and this year, the director is taking 10 new designers to open a pop-up store in Milan, Italy.

Meanwhile, the best designer award went to Park Seung-gun of “Push Button,” who adopted the seasonal concept of “Ready-Made.” Park presented his summer look collection of bodysuits, dresses, wide pants, pencil skirts and sunglasses. The eye-grabbing relay of designer’s resort look items continued from seersucker pants suits to metallic nightwear worn by model EZ and the re-born maxi skirts from his previous season soccer T-shirts with “P” logos. Although Park’s red and blue stripe pants suits received the best feedback by attendees at the runway, his high-heeled shoes for male models became the hottest issue.

“I don’t want to talk about sexual identity or things like that. You know women wear high heels wanting to look tall and well-proportioned. I thought the same goes for men,” said Park on the interview with official Hera Seoul Fashion Week Daily.

‘Youth Culture’ to lead the global trend

Seoul Fashion Week held its second seminar with six global fashion gurus on the topic of “Street Luxe and Shop to Online” and “How to Design the Future – A Manifesto” by former Dean of Parsons School of Design Simon Collins. The other fashion mentors included Italian Chamber of Buyers Mario Dell’Oglio, Dean of Paris College of Art Donald Potard, Editor of Dazed UK Isabella Burley and Saks Fifth Avenue menswear Fashion Director Eric Jennings.

Collins began the first session by introducing the current trend of street fashion inspired by Youth Culture.

“Youth Culture was considered a sub-culture of young people, but now it has become the trend which breaks the wall between high-end and street fashion. The trend will continue for a while,” said Collins during the seminar held at DDP, Friday.

Burley also added that Russian designer, Gosha Rubchinskiy, and French brand, Vetements, played a leading role in bringing the street genre to the mainstream and such a trend has became a monumental case for breakdown of high-end fashion industry’s caste.

Potard stressed the importance of luxury companies opening online stores and offline shops providing a venue for customers to experience the brand’s identity and try on the items while purchasing them online.

“As use of credit cards online is accessible, we are facing a lot of changes. China, for example, is a country that does not have a well-established offline distributing system. But with the explosive success of online stores like Alibaba, the luxury brands are opening online stores,” said Potard.

In the second session, Collins gave a speech on designing future, where he highlighted the importance of culture and story-telling.

“In the past, designers had to present a collection but now they have to think about a way to pursue sustainable life. H&M, UNIQLO and Zara have been adopting a recycling system and this kind of eco-friendly campaign is establishing an identity to fashion brands and adding stories,” said Collins.

The dean added that customers should strongly express their support and opinions on the values sought by fashion firms as well as social issues.

Models walk on the finale stage at MUNSOOKWON’s fashion show during the 2017 Spring Summer Hera Seoul Fashion Week in Seoul, last Wednesday.

Seoul Fashion Week adopts information technology

One of the most notable developments for the latest Seoul Fashion Week was its live streaming service operated on the event’s official website. Not only has Jung posted all the catwalk shows on YouTube in real-time for global audiences, he decided to record them for virtual reality (VR) video service in cooperation with EPIQ VR. The company provides the service to 300 million users all over the world on and offline. The video clips of Seoul Fashion Week runways are both available on mobile application and the website

www.epiqvr.com

.

“We shoot the runway from a VIP seat to experience the show in 360 degree angles, which gives a feeling that a person is actually watching the catwalk on the spot,” CEO Snow Seol said the manger 000 during the interview with The Korea Times. “We established a booth outside the DDP for models to come and watch how they perform on the stage and others, who did not get chance to watch the show, to experience the catwalk through VR.”

Honorary fashion designer Han Hae-ja’s art installation is displayed in her archival exhibition at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul.

Haneza holds invitational exhibition TACTUS: Sense of Touch

An established Korean fashion designers Han Hye-ja, better known as Haneza, was chosen as second honorary designer to open 2017 Hera Seoul Fashion Week last Monday at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, in Seoul.

Han debuted in 1972 with her fashion brand ITALIANA and she is still active in making dresses for women from various age-groups from 20s to 60s.

The archival exhibition was held under the theme of “Tactus: Sense of Touch” which gave an in-depth understanding of Han’s passion and philosophy. The designer has focused on creating easy-on-the-eye works with dramatic storylines, particularly inspired by such natural objects as stone, moss, earth, trees and wind.

Honorary fashion designer Han Hae-ja’s artistically formative “Art-to-wear” pieces are displayed in her archival exhibition. Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation

Han has ingeniously created her unique texture to express the discoloration and sedimentation cause by the passage of time.

Han said her way of seeing the world has changed after she experienced a deadly car accident in her late 30s. After surgery she stayed in her house for a long time as her face was badly ruined and she begin to find interest in the simple things.

“I liked visiting popular tourist sites with scenic places but I wasn’t very much interested in small things. But while recovering from the accident, I spent much time watching little flowers grow in between cement and was amazed by its tenacity to hold onto life. From then, I learned that I should live with humility and feel gratitude for small things,” said Han during the interview with The Korea Times, on Thursday.

Han has ingeniously created her unique texture to express the discoloration and sedimentation caused by the passage of time on her art installations, the earth. She stitched colored string on velvet fabric to express the moss on a rock.

“There are various things on the surface of the earth. You can find rocks, water streaming and stones shining in reflection of sunshine. All these installations and designs are from my personal experience and I am happy that they are shown well in my work,” added Han.

The exhibition will display more than 80 pieces of art including three art installations, her artistically formative “Art-to-wear” works and various items that have been designer’s source of inspiration.

The exhibition will be held for free until Nov. 9.