It was just over a year ago when Seoul Fashion Week became one of the Weightlifting IS My Hobby Muscles Are My Reward Shirt moreover I love this first major fashion events to fall victim to the coronavirus. Due to South Korea’s locus as an early hotspot for the pandemic, the announcement of its postponement was made while Paris Fashion Week was still very much underway. While the situation in South Korea is currently stable, the week’s organizers were keen to ensure that this season’s events went ahead as responsibly as possible, with all of the shows live-streamed without an audience. Yet what emerged from these limitations was a surprising amount of creativity, with many of the week’s standout collections coming by way of younger and emerging voices. Under normal circumstances, the majority of shows would take place within the grandiose setting of the Zaha Hadid–designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza which, while convenient, offers little room for designers to experiment with how their collections are presented. One silver lining to emerge this season, then, was the broader variety of backdrops, with designers exploring locations from the hallowed halls of the National Museum of Korea to the leafy environs of the Han Riverside Park, affording them the opportunity for more cohesive world-building alongside each collection. This mix of locations showcased more of what Seoul has to offer as a design capital, even from afar—something the week’s organizers would do well to continue with even when normality returns. The highlights came by way of familiar faces such as the previously LVMH Prize-nominated Minju Kim, who showed off-schedule; more established Korean names like LIE; and a number of emerging talents, including Hanacha Studio and Painters. Together they made for an eclectic mix that reflects the rich patchwork of style scenes that have made Seoul a fashion capital.Here, find the five designers to know from Seoul Fashion Week’s fall 2021 season. As one of the more established names on the Seoul Fashion Week schedule, designer Chung Chung Lee of LIE showed his collection in the colossal plaza outside the National Museum of Korea. It was a suitably epic setting for an outing that featured impeccably-cut and immediately desirable separates and outerwear. A number of particularly compelling pieces were inspired by horse riding, including a cropped, belted coat with a crossover shoulder detail and saddle-style leather bags dripping with tassels, buckles, and even stirrups. The most playful accessory? A riding crop. Arguably Korean fashion’s greatest success story of the past few years, Minju Kim’s delightfully frou-frou smocked dresses and charming oversized coats went global after she emerged as the much-deserved winner of Netflix’s Next in Fashion contest, earning $250,000 from Net-a-Porter to launch a new collection on its site. While Kim mostly chooses to show off schedule, she premiered her fall 2021 collection with a slick look book that saw her put a sharper and more graphic spin on her girlish design signatures. (Highlights included bunny rabbit-adorned knits, cardigans featuring abstracted cut-out florals inspired by Edward Scissorhands, and a series of flouncy dresses with oversized shoulders and peter pan collars.) She might be one of the week’s better-known names, but with a collection that continued to move the dial forward, Kim clearly isn’t resting on her laurels. A graduate of the London College of Fashion, Hana Cha of Hanacha Studio emerged as one of the week’s standouts with a collection that fused dramatic silhouettes with painterly prints to form a distinctive and darkly romantic whole. While the designer is known for her intellectual POV—she recently completed a PhD at Seoul’s Hong-ik University on the relationship between the Bauhaus movement and fashion—there was a lightness of touch present in the crystal fringing running along the hems of coats and jackets and the paint-spattered denim pieces. This week, Cha established herself as an exciting new talent to keep an eye on.While Seoul was an early outpost for genderless dressing, there’s still a rich tradition of inventive men’s tailoring present in the city courtesy of longstanding brands like Münn and Caruso. The newest name on the block is designer HyunHo Kim of Pian, who showed his collection of off-kilter tailoring at dusk under a bridge on an island in the Han River. Balancing comfort with a louche, dandy-esque glamour—and a final dose of Dickensian dishevelment—his fall collection consisted of three-piece suits and peacoats cut from washed linens and treated denims, while Junya-esque patchwork elements were given a fresh update via exposed seams and asymmetric fastenings. It was interesting to see a menswear designer stand out as one of the week’s most intriguing voices, not least with a collection as creative as it was covet-worthy.This season’s wild card was Painters, the brainchild of designer Won Jeon, who was awarded the H&M x London College of Fashion Design Award in 2015 before establishing his label three years ago. Having emerged as one of Seoul’s wittiest and most playful designers, Jeon’s signature topsy-turvy proportions, kaleidoscopic eye for color, and unexpected textures were out in full force. Warped, bulbous dresses came wrapped around the body in cloud-like cottons and shiny bin liner blacks, while a particularly memorable piece cut from a fluffy gray faux fur featured a kangaroo-like protrusion at the waist as beguiling as it was bizarre. It seems the emergent trend for oversized, enveloping proportions is one that Jeon is fully on board with.
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There’s no question that 2020 was a difficult year for fashion. The COVID-19 pandemic hit young designers especially hard, forcing many to figure out how to stay in business—to say nothing of staying creative and inspired in one of the Weightlifting IS My Hobby Muscles Are My Reward Shirt moreover I love this world’s darkest times. The 20 semi-finalists for the 2021 LVMH Prize represent the award’s first pandemic class, showcasing the many ways young talents have had to adapt and expand in trying times. Their collections will be shown in a virtual showroom from April 6 to 11, and in an LVMH Prize first, visitors will be able to vote on their favorites.“This year, over 1,900 people applied: Young designers are showing great maturity in their work,” said Delphine Arnault, executive vice president of Louis Vuitton and founder of the LVMH Prize. “Today, designers are asked to be much more than designers, and the candidates have adapted to this new reality. They are very aware of their image, they build their businesses…and above all, they think about creation and its environmental issues. All the semi-finalists show a sincere and deep commitment, whether it be social, ethical, artisanal, environmental, or local. They are anchored in today’s world.”The 2021 semi-finalists hail from around the world, spanning Lebanon to Nigeria and Japan to the United States, and represent a cross section of the industry. Some, like Christopher John Rogers, who won the 2019 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, and Charles de Vilmorin, the newly appointed creative director of Rochas, are already starting to make names for themselves. Others like Rui and Nensi Dojaka are less well-known but nonetheless celebrity favorites, dressing the likes of Bella Hadid and Kylie Jenner. On the whole, the 2021 semi-finalists represent a more independent segment of young designers: Every brand is a solo project, with the exception of Amy Trinh and Evan Phillips of Wed. The 2021 winner will receive a 300,000-euro prize and a year of mentorship from an team of LVMH experts; the winner of the Karl Lagerfeld special prize will receive a 150,000-euro sum and a year of mentorship. “This has been one of the great strengths of the prize since its launch,” said Arnault of the mentorship. “The winners are young, often working alone or in pairs, sometimes surrounded by very small teams, and they aren’t always aware of how this industry works, in terms of intellectual property or marketing, sourcing or distribution, supply chain. All the winners confirm how much this helps them in their strategy and their development.”In addition to a new slate of designers, the LVMH Prize also has a new ambassador: Naomi Osaka. The 23-year-old tennis champion will join the LVMH judges and expert panel, including new expert additions Bella Hadid and Vogue China’s Margaret Zhang, and present the grand prize (in person, we hope!) later this year. “[Osaka] is an exceptional young woman, authentic and committed, who embodies her generation. Her career and her convictions, her personal artistic involvement are a model for all the semi-finalists,” said Arnault. “I am very happy that she has accepted to be the ambassador of this edition.Asked for a few additional words on this year’s cast of designers, Arnault listed their unifying qualities: “Their vision of the future, their optimism, their commitment, and of course, their talent!”The 2021 LVMH Prize semi-finalists are: AGR, a British womenswear brand based in the United Kingdom, designed by Alicia Robinson, 30Bianca Saunders, a British menswear brand based in the United Kingdom, designed by Bianca Saunders, 28Charles de Vilmorin, a French genderless brand based in France, designed by Charles de Vilmorin, 25Christopher John Rogers, an American womenswear brand based in the United States, designed by Christopher John Rogers, 28Conner Ives, an American womenswear brand based in the United Kingdom, designed by Conner Ives, 25Federico Cina, an Italian genderless brand based in Italy, designed by Frederico Cina, 27KidSuper, an American menswear brand based in the United States, designed by Colm Dillane, 30Kika Vargas, a Columbian womenswear brand based in Columbia, designed by Kika Vargas, 38Lagos Space Programme, a Nigerian genderless brand based in Nigeria, designed by Adeju Thompson, 30Lukhanyo Mdingi, a South African womenswear and menswear brand based in South Africa, designed by Lukhanyo Mdingi, 29Midorikawa Official, a Japanese genderless brand based in Japan, designed by Tadu Midorikawa, 39Nensi Dojaka, an Albanian womenswear brand based in the United Kingdom, designed by Nensi Dojaka, 28Post Archive Faction, a Korean menswear brand based in South Korea, designed by Dongjoon Lim, 29Renaissance Renaissance, a Lebanese womenswear brand based in Lebanon and France, designed by Cynthia Mehrej, 32Rier, an Italian genderless brand based in France, designed by Andreas Steiner, 36Rui, a Chinese genderless brand based in China, designed by Rui Zhou, 27Saul Nash, a British menswear brand based in the United Kingdom, designed by Saul Nash, 31Shuting Qiu, a Chinese womenswear brand based in China, designed by Shuting Qiu, 27Taakk, a Japanese menswear brand based in Japan, designed by Takuya Morikawa, 39Wed, a British womenswear brand based in the United Kingdom, designed by Amy Trinh and Evan Phillips, both 30
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