Colorful runways decorate Seoul Fashion Week

Veteran fashion designer Rubina, left, celebrates at the 2018 SS Seoul Fashion Week's opening party at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation

Veteran designer Rubina to open archive show

By Kim Jae-heun

Ever since Jung Ku-ho became executive director of Seoul Fashion Week, he has been designating one veteran dressmaker as honorary designer each year to host the archive exhibition as part of the opening event for the fashion event.

For the 2018 Spring Summer Hera Seoul Fashion Week, Jung picked veteran designer Rubina, who opened the show under the theme “Endless Journey” at Design Dulle-gil in Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP).

Rubina’s exhibition, planned by popular creative director Seo Young-hee, showcases the fashion and travel loving designer’s 37-year-long curiosity, passion and challenging spirit through 150 clothing items and art installations in nine spaces. The exhibition shows how much she cares about details in her clothing collections such as hanging, weaving, knitting, tying, twisting, stitching, pressing, dyeing, layering, cutting and mixing.

“I really love traveling. I think I was a gypsy in my previous life, loving clothes and traveling so much,” Rubina said during the opening party for her exhibition at the DDP, Monday. “Traveling and fashion are like life in that they are both incomplete. It’s a beautiful life I am living with fashion, which I love. I feel happy.”

Wood was her main inspirational material for the special exhibition, with which Rubina showed how liberally she could observe and take ideas.

Veteran fashion designer Rubina displays her 37 years of collection at her archive exhibition held at DDP as an honorary designer during the 2018 Spring Summer Seoul Fashion Week. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation

“There’s no such thing as a wood color in the world. Take a close look at a tree, and you will notice every part of it from the roots to the stems has its own hue and shade different from others. I love the subtle differences and, of course, the full vitality of trees,” Rubina said.

Rubina began her fashion career working as a model for 13 years, until she won an award at the 1980 Joong-ang Design Contest as a dressmaker. Rubina opened her first boutique in 1983 and expanded to open 12 more as her clothes received many admirers. She also founded the Seoul Fashion Artist Association and plays a leading role in training young Korean designers to contribute to the local fashion industry.

The “Endless Journey” exhibition will be open at the DDP until Nov. 12 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and entrance is free.

Fashion models walk the finale stage on “Push Button’s” 2018 Spring Summer collection show at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of Seoul Design Foundation.

The 2018 Spring Summer Hera Fashion Week has begun its six-day run, inviting 35 designer brands and six fashion-friendly businesses to cover the runways.

Designer brand “UL:KIN,” by Lee Seong-dong, kicked off the fashion feast as the first show, presenting a collection adopting a military look. Making his Seoul Fashion Week debut on the main stage with “Generation Next,” Lee reinterpreted every popular military theme as a shroud. The designer said his collection contains a critical view of society that lacks rewards and respect for those who have died for the country. Lee’s previous season adopted the theme “Silent Docent,” criticizing contemporary intellectuals who turn a blind eye to social injustice for their own interests.

Designer Jang Hyeong-cheol of Ordinary People shone that night in the main show along with fashion brand Supercomma B.

Jang spread the floor with a white runway for his models to walk in silky mint-colored shirts and chocolate brown leather shorts, plus naturally pleated beige jackets.

The designer’s consistent depiction of men was equally interesting in his use of colors.

Tender, flexible, relaxing and original is what Jang focused on displaying in his image of men in his collection. The silhouette of wide shoulders and flapping pants has become a signature style in his clothing and this season he added simple ruffle details and hooded shirts.

This is not the first time Supercomma B has presented a business collection at Seoul Fashion Week. The fashion brand has once again shown off a dazzlingly colorful selection and decorated the interior with the hashtag “#OUTOF CONTROL” which hinted the runway show would be extraordinary.

The show was a visual cacophony of rock ’n’ roll girls with smoky makeup, Pippi Longstocking-style girls, and boys addicted to smartphones. The brand did not forget to present its signature check shirts and loose-fit pants _ but in a unique style for this season.

Singer-turned-actress Uhm Jung-hwa was a surprise by the brand, as she showed up on the catwalk in the middle of the show. Singer Tae Min of the K-pop band SHINee also performed on the runway, adding a strange yet interesting verve to the show.

The 2018 SS Hera Seoul Fashion Week will run at the DDP until this Saturday.