Menswear designers gain spotlight while some veteran womenswear designers lack experimentalism


Seoul Fashion Week 2012 S/S finished its six-day run on Saturday at SETEC in Daechi-dong and Samsung D’light in Seocho-dong in southern Seoul, attracting about 15,000 visitors every day. A total of 127 brands participated in the shows and the fashion and beauty fair.

About 200 buyers and 100 press members from countries including the U.S., France, Italy and the U.K. attended the show, reflecting the growing interest in South Korea’s fashion industry.

Business booths were better organized than in previous seasons and were busy negotiating deals with buyers. An important aim of this year’s SFW was to serve as an effective platform for Korean designers to showcase their works and actually ink deals with foreign buyers.

Participating designers said they were glad to see more participation by foreign buyers and press. Visiting foreign buyers included those from Le Bon Marche department store in Paris and popular French multi-brand shop Colette. Buyers from emerging markets including Middle Eastern countries continued to rise. The foreign press included editors from Vogue Italy, New York-based online fashion magazine Flaunt and London-based online video magazine Crane.tv.

Foreign buyers were provided with tablet PCs which enabled them to search product databases and make orders online. 

Mixing extremes

Exotic vacation destinations was one of the most popular themes for this season’s SFW. Andy & Debb showcased a vintage resort look inspired by laid back vacationers and so did designer Kim Jae-hyun of Jardin de Chouette, who was impressed at the sight of many who stayed stylish even while vacationing at a deserted beach she visited last summer.

Designer Choi Bum-suk of General Idea took the image of the stylish boys he saw at a French beach last year to complete the “Garcon de la Plage” look mainly using orange, mint and shades of green. 
 
The melding of maximalism and minimalism was another penetrating theme, mostly expressed through lengthy skirts pepped up with crisp pleats or feminine cuts. The Studio K and Andy & Debb showcased an impressive line of pleated skirts and shirts. Designer Park Seung-gun of pushbutton and Lee Jae-hwan of jaehwan*lee gave sexy highlights to their garments by cutting them in unexpected spots and sometimes covering the parts with mesh.

Wild color-saturated patterns in contrast with simple silhouettes was another hard-to-miss trend. Designer Choi Bo-ko painted his collection with vivid colors derived from fine art paintings, Lie Sang-bong printed voluminous and geometric shapes in hot pink, dark purple and aqua mint and Steve J & Yoni P played with flower-oriented prints. 

Menswear outdoes womenswear

Perhaps too mindful of potential buyers, womenswear designers, especially veteran ones, seemed to be rather short of experimental ideas or reluctant to try something new.

While their collections were surely covetable everyday wear, foreign buyers and press questioned whether they were enough for a fashion show.

“Why are they so conventional? Everything was just ready to be sold. They did not need to be put on a show. I don’t even know what to criticize because I am not sure that even was a fashion show,” said one member of the foreign press after watching several designers’ shows on the first day.

Another disappointing point was the presence of so many reruns, as more Korean designers showcase their collections first at fashion weeks abroad.

The fashion-savvy here who saw their favorite Korean designer’s collections in the recent New York and Paris fashion weeks had only the option of seeing the same shows all over again. At the recently ended SFW, about half of the participating designers including Jung Ku-ho, who opened the event, had previously showcased the collections elsewhere.

Relatively up-coming designers and menswear designers, on the other hand, received more favorable responses. Designer Lee Suk-tae’s airy collection of satin and chiffon dresses, mesh-added silk pants dipped into watery patterns of sky blue, gray and white, was especially favorably commented upon by buyers.

Menswear collections which were showcased in the final two days of SFW were praised for their amusing presentation as well as the quality of the collections. Insiders have noted that menswear designers are stronger both in terms of artistry and sales compared to womenswear designers in Korea. Designers Lee Ju-young, Choi Bum-suk, Seo Eun-gil, Chang Kwang-hyo, opened their shows with interesting fashion films and designer Kang Dong-jun ended his show by proposing to his girlfriend on the runway after the finale.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldcorp.com)