April, 2nd, 2013

SEOUL Fashion Week | The F/W 2013

Korean fashion is more dynamic when compared with the fashion trends of the London and Paris. Korean fashion designers use the colors creatively. They have put again together this season, the old-fashioned European styles to create something new, between classicism and futurism. They took on their own design through the conservative approach to using what they think is in fashion somewhere else: tailored sophistication with street-style inspirations. And the models showed off the fashionable monochromic, masterfully heightened by porte-drapeau Moon Young Hee.

“I intended to express my designs in a generous and free manner as if you feel like being in the open plain when you see them”, Moon explained about her designs. “Although they are a bit long in length, I tried to make them look natural and mysterious, not restrictive of movement”. MOONYOUNGHEE is the only Korean fashion brand which has been presenting at fashion shows in Paris twice a year for the past 16 years. Its headquarters is based in Paris and all of her products are designed and manufactured there. Moon Young Hee clearly showed how fashionable panache can still be achieved with black and white.

Debuting in 1980, Lie launched his own brand “Lie Sang Bong Boutique” five years later and earned broad media attention at home for integrating modern tastes with traditional Korean aesthetics. He has been taking part in the Seoul Fashion Week collection since 1994 and the Prêt-à-Porter collection in Paris since 2002. In 2006, he earned international fame with his collection themed on Korea’s own writing system Hangeul at the 2006 Ready To Wear collection. But when the designer first started working on his Hanguel-inspired line he was not so sure that it would be a success, he said. “I had done a show in Paris with the theme Korean shamanism, before. I then wanted to do a show based on Korean culture again and found Hangeul. At first, I only used Hangeul designs on collars or linings because I was not as courageous as I am today in using the designs.”

To his surprise, the collection enjoyed a favorable response from buyers who came to the show. “I realized that Hangeul can be beautiful,” he said. After that show he returned to Seoul and enthusiastically worked for about a month to create refined clothes by boldly using Hangeul designs. He later became known for creating works inspired by Hangeul; Dancheong, Korea’s traditional multicolored paintwork on a wooden building; Hanbok, traditional Korean house; and embroidery to increase the world’s awareness of Korea and its culture. “I’m a fashion designer who always wants to be faithful to what I was impressed with each time and to evolve”.

The 63-year-old said he will continue to challenge himself with new things in the remaining years of his life. And his 2013 F/W this week was themed on a latticed door pattern…Fashion is Passion.