National Museums, Parks And Monuments Provide Exciting New Locations For Seoul Fashion Week

Seoul Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2021 live-streamed the runway, reaching a global audience last week. With major tourist attractions like art museums empty of international visitors due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, fashion brands had access to exciting and unique locations for their catwalks. Instead of shows at the Zaha Hadid designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), where Seoul Fashion Week has taken place over the past seven years, national museums and parks were used as its runways for the first time. Models strutted around the Gilt-bronze Pensive Bodhisattva (National Treasure 83), the famous national treasure housed at the National Museum of Korea and through the collections of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA). Famous Seoul attractions including Han Riverside Park and the Oil Tank Culture Park were also used as stages for Seoul Fashion Week.

Filming of the live-streamed event took place under strict quarantine with no audiences. And organisers made thorough preparations such as protection and insurance of artifacts and Covid-19 safety measures. Kim Eui-Seung, Deputy Mayor for Economic policies, said that the Seoul Metropolitan Government holds “the Seoul Fashion Week as one of its major projects to promote domestic fashion industry. This year, in particular, we attempted to marry fashion with the city, history and culture by turning national museums into runways.”

And the collections did look fantastic in these impressive new settings. Many of the top brands from Korea and International designers took part such as Lie, BMuet(te), Painters, Seokwoon Yoon and K POP favourite, Beyond Closet along with new talent. Since the first Seoul Fashion Week in 2000, Korean designers have made a major impact in global fashion world, with more and more brands being stocked by high end international retailers. Highlights from the fall/winter 2021 show ranged from formal tailored looks to imaginative streetwear.

Cahiers, by designer Kim A-young, is a couture-inspired brand with designs that are both beautiful and wearable. Vibrant overcoats, including one in fuschia and another in camel, plus a quilted pearly bomber jacket, were among standout looks. The brand’s latest collection was presented with a runway show in the Oil Tank Culture Park.

Hanacha Studio is well known by Western buyers. Award-winning Korean designer Hana Cha has an MA from the London College of Fashion and her graduate collection was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum, winning “Womenswear Collection of the Year” in 2013. The brand’s fall/winter 2021 collection was shown in the grand National Museum of Korea and was inspired by the sculptures and paintings of Spanish artist Joan Miro.

Beyond Closet a casual menswear brand made for an interesting contrast to the artworks in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA). The brand takes inspiration from the American classic preppy look, with letter sweaters, jackets and overcoats, using clever graphics and a variety of colors.

NNA is a womenswear brand established in 2013 by sisters Eunna Hwang, who is a knitwear designer and Knit Lizie Hwang, a fine art and print textile designer. The partnership clearly works well as showcased in their fall/winter collection of gorgeous flowing day and evening dresses in interesting patterns and gorgeous fabrics. The concrete stark look of the Oil Tank Culture Park provided an excellent contrast and stunning backdrop for the sisters’ romantic designs.

Rinjeon, is a women’s wear brand by Jeon Hye-rin who uses local craftspeople who are paid a fair wage to sew long-lasting garments. Sustainability is the aim of Rinjeon and every look presented at Seoul Fashion Week was both stylish and classic.

The next edition of Seoul Fashion Week will be in October 2021, hopefully shown to a live audience.