Fashion
From Painters to Kimzisu.
While fashion month may have wrapped in the U.S. and Europe, it’s still in full swing in Asia. After going mostly digital since February 2020 due to the global pandemic, Seoul Fashion Week returned for its Fall 2021 season in March, showcasing a total of 43 brands, with more than a dozen of those new and emerging. Their collections debuted online via livestream from the city’s major national museums and landmarks as runway venues.
Seoul is home to a slew of indie brands that now have a global fan base, including Ader Error, Wooyoungmi, and We11done, and its latest fashion week is bound to bring another round of soon-to-be-big names. To keep you in the know, we picked our favorite collections to watch from Seoul Fashion Week Fall 2021, below, from anti-trend brand Painters to the digital-inspired label Kimzisu, and more.
Manod
Having launched in 2018 originally as a menswear brand, Manod has since expanded its offering and become a fashion week favorite in Seoul. For Fall 2021, designer Lim Hun Soo’s “Human 6.0” collection gives off a post-apocalyptic vibe with leather outerwear, edgy tailoring, and webbed-meets-barbed-wire motifs.
Notknowing
Designer Sieun Kim blends sportswear and subculture to create for the brand Notknowing. Its Fall 2021 collection has just about every element of a cool-person wardrobe: trippy, graphic prints, statement outerwear, and baggy silhouettes. It’s no wonder this fashion label has garnered a celebrity following in Seoul.
Painters
After studying fashion and a few design gigs in both Seoul and London, Won Jeon launched his brand Painters in 2018. He aims to create a new idea of beauty by staying away from trends and aesthetics. His most recent collection for Fall 2021 explores protection through clothes and oversized silhouettes and bulky fabrics.
Kimzisu
Designer and London College of Fashion graduate Jisoo Kim launched her Seoul-based brand Kimzisu in 2019, exploring contrasting fabrics and unexpected, asymmetrical silhouettes through her designs. For Fall 2021, she was inspired by our growing digital world, creating a neon-tinted collection with textured details and sharp shapes.
Rinjeon
Since 2018, designer Haerin Jeon has been focusing on sustainability with her brand Rinjeon by creating timeless, quality garments. For Fall 2021, she took inspiration from architecture and classic music, and teamed up with sewing craftsmen in Korea to produce a collection made with silk from Jinju, one of the world’s top regions that produces the fabric type.
Julycolumn
Sisters Sooy and Jay Park launched Julycolumn in 2017 and just made their Seoul Fashion Week debut for Fall 2021. (Though the duo are no strangers to the industry, as their father has been working designer for decades.) Their first-ever collection looks to how women dress as they escape from the city and explore nature, with an earth-tone-inspired color palette and cozy materials, like cashmere and soft vegan leather.
Ensue
Designer Ensue Hwang is a Central Saint Martins graduate who has worked at John Galliano in Paris and London brands Phoebe English and Euden Choi before launching her namesake brand Ensue in 2019. Her Seoul Fashion Week debut collection for Fall 2021 dives deeper into the label’s romantic aesthetic but with some edge — think dark academia meets cottagecore.
