The Concept Korea show was an initiative from the The Republic of Korean Ministry Culture, Sports and Tourism to bring South Korean designers build their business internationally. This show featured three runway collections in one show: Hyun Joo Kwak, Juyoung Lee and Lee Jean Youn.
Pucca by Hyun Joo Kwak
Kwak has been around since 2006, showing at Seoul Fashion Week. Her inspiration for the Concept Korea show is actually a popular animated character named Pucca, who is popular in Korea, With a very much Japanese-like anime and street style, her line could fair well with a young demographic. Her pieces were colorful neon greens, oranges and pinks paired with sexy sporty, the first model to walk the runway held an apple, like the witch in Snow White, only this version was a teen drama combined with a futuristic vibe.
Juyoung Lee
This is not Lee's first visit to the United States. She's actually a graduate of Parsons School of Design. She launched her line Resurrection and even worked with Marilyn Manson during his "Eat Me, Drink Me" album music video and world tour wardrobes. An edgy designer, her pieces have a place here in the US. Similar to lines like Lina Osterman, she describes her pieces as "genderless," though from what I could tell, her models were all males. Though the kilt styles are a Marc Jacobs thing at the moment, she showed trench coats fused with wind breakers, leather, spats, and lots of layering, including leather tees.
Lee Jean Youn
Buzz already exists in Paris regarding Youn. He's shown at Paris Haute Couture Collections in 2010 and participated in the city's Paris: Who's Next Exhibition. He's also collaborated with retailer, Mango overseas which can still be found on ASOS. Hes received praise from Marie Claire and Project Runway's Nina Garcia and the legendary Mr. Oscar de la Renta (whose son, Moses de la Renta did a line of tees for Mango as well).
Youn's show was the stand out of the bunch, though its not a fair comparison since each Concept Korea collection reached for a different type of wearer. Though Youn's organza dresses and intricate mash up of individual pieces were hard to stop gawking at. The show audience had enough time to look though, since each model walked the runway and stayed there.
Music
From house, beep and thump to organ infused digital, the music provided a real fashion show vibe. Shazam iphone app managed to identify a couple of tunes: Growls Garden by Clark, Deeper and Deeper by Dave Gahan which was more rock and dark.
People and Scene
The Lincoln Center showing was held in one of the larger tents. Seats filled in the first couple of rows, which led me to think that important people are interested in checking out Korean designers. The runway entrance for models included a jumbo tron screen. At the start of the show, a short film montage of all the designers concepts blazed on the screen. Amercian's take note: its a show and that's how you do it. With so many old school white backgrounds and just a parade of models in sell-able paired down clothing, this way of presenting was a welcome bang. It makes me wonder why more often than not, fashion that recieves press in the US are names we all recognize and it seems tough to break into our clique. Its been proven that we Americans are creatures of habit, which is why chain stores do so well with the same garments, set up on alike displays, though different cities.
To Gift or Not to Gift
The first couple of rows got something, I think.
