16FW,

Seoul Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2016 P1

02:42 Lox 0 Comments




           Day#1 attended-23rd of March


An eye opening experience

I have to admit, this has been my second time witnessing a fashion event. The first time I got to experience it, it had been during London Fashion Week in 2014. I have felt overwhelmed there for multiple reasons. For one, it was my first time going to any event of such. I felt like a newborn baby trying to take everything in. All those clothes, colours and people that looked…simply good. There is no other way to describe it. London Fashion Week is glamorous in every single sense. It seems untouchable for the general public, probably because in the end, it is.

This week I got to experience my second Fashion Week. Two years later, and my heart was still beating out of its chest. Was it going to be the same? Was it going to be the exact glamour that I have seen in London? Would I feel as overwhelmed? Well the answer is yes and yes. It was the same, in multiple ways, it was fashion, colours, clothes, make up, beauty and glamour. I had started feeling overwhelmed even before Monday, so that is a good indicator as to how calm I have been.

However, I want to point out that even though I said it was the same, at the same time it wasn’t. Yes I saw fashion, yes I saw glamour, yes I saw colours. However, it is not 2014 anymore, and as we all know, fashion is volatile. It is not the same continent and not the same culture. Thus, no matter how many aspects London Fashion Week had in common with Seoul Fashion Week, the similarities end at fashion.
I have talked previously about Korean fashion, however, everything that I have talked about was street fashion.  Imagine street fashion, twice as glamorous and as flashy. And then you’d have an inkling of what I mean when I say Seoul Fashion Week.  The clothes I have seen showcased outside of the official shows have been just as amazing and eye grabbing as the ones that have been officially showcased as part of the shows.

Overwhelming

In the light of all that has happened, when I think back on it, I realise it did seem like I have watched a film. Instead of experiencing it myself. Every time I would leave to go back home, I thought this did not happen to me. It seems like that with everything that amazes me and excites me. Fashion is one of my passions, and being able to experience it firsthand made it all surreal.

What, how, when, where?

The Dongdaemun Design Plaza was the place the Fashion Week was held at is located in Dongdaemun, in the heart of the markets that are hustling and bustling with shops from low to high end. The area is a bit deceiving because it does not make you think it is a place where you can find high end brands, but you can. I am not talking Armani, Vuitton and the likes. I mean Korean high end fashion brands such as WHO AU, Beyond Closet, Tom&Rabbit, DEBB, kiok. The majority of the names I just listed have had  their collections presented during Fashion Week. These are all designer clothing, with aspirations and very interesting concepts. The shows, which I did not get to attend myself, but I did stalk them wherever I could, mainly Instagram, were full of personality and depending on the designer brand presented, they each had something new and unique to bring to the table.

Fashion Week started on the 21st and ended on the 26th with shows being presented from 10am to 8pm each day.  Unfortunately I could only attend on the 23rd, 25th and the last day of the event.  I regret not being able to enjoy the week entirely, however, only these two days were enough to make an impression on me enough for me to squeeze some ideas into this post and the next few that will follow.


My mind could not keep up with my eyes in comprehending and taking in the ‘street’ fashion presented outside of the events. The street fashion has left more of an impression on me than the styles presented within the show. If I said I had not been blown away by the runway styles I would be lying. Street fashion though combines more individuality, and a bit of each wearer’s personality. 

‘Street’ Style

In the previous post I talked about street style in Korea in somewhat of a detail. I talked about layering, etiquette, style, colours, style based on gender etc. Fashion Week has been the perfect opportunity for me to witness these all in one place. I have seen people wearing interesting things, colourful things, layers, culottes on males (and yes I have been impressed by that, found out I quite enjoy the style as well), currest season styles, last season styles (and I do not mean that in a derogative way). However, the colours that were most present were dark colours that are never out of style in my opinion, just…too easy to style and not inventive. And yes, I am guilty of doing the same.  Pale colours are in this season though, and you could definitely see those present heavily amongst the fashion wearers.

Hold onto your jeans (no pun intended), because jean everything is back in the season. Different colours of jean  pants/trousers and jackets, shirts were heavily present at the Fashion Week, combined with other jean articles of clothing or even added into the dressy outfits giving them the casual flare.
I could continue talking about the styles, but we all know that a visual representation is nicer, so why don’t you take a look for yourself.


(I will put the Instagram of the people in the photos below the pictures)
Yasmin follow her blog here and Instagram @paintingwithunicorns




정호연

 fashion model @hoooooyeony


TELISU @telisu

안예원

 🇰🇷 YGK+_model @anyewon0210

주원대

 Cjes model, @joowondae

Susie Lau, @susiebubble




Model Sungchan Kim 김 성찬 @kimsungchanofficial

류경아 @cornu_ryu

Phoebe Corey 피비 @accidentalitgirl


권현빈 HyunBinKwon YG K+

 Fashion Model
@komurola
이희수, Esteem Model, @l_h_s_98

Me:



Red Carpet

Excuse possible bad quality, my battery decided to die on me :( the better pictures belong to Yasmin :)













The rest of the pictures are on my tumblr, so please check that out if you'd like to see all of them :) 
Link is here
Seoul Fashion Week day #2 will be up soon! Look forward to that!


Lox

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beauty,

Things Korean Fashion has taught me

17:27 Lox 1 Comments


For me fashion is more than passion


Because it is the week of Seoul Fashion Week i thought i would share some of my views when it comes to Korean fashion.
I am not a professional, and this is purely a subjective approach to Korean fashion. Keep that in mind as you read this. After being in South Korea for a while-not enough in my opinion, I have experienced different seasons here, I have walked around the great city of Seoul enough, I have traveled outside of Seoul. I will also add that not being a professional and this post being entirely subjective, I will obviously tend more towards female fashion than men’s. I am not trained as a fashion critique or designer, and I am more inclined towards makeup and skincare than fashion. Not saying that I am not into fashion, however, I think it takes more to write about fashion than passion. So everything that I say will be purely out of interest and passion for different styles. Saying that, I have come to a few conclusions when it comes to Korean fashion.
Korean fashion in my eyes is…

Simple yet complicated


By saying this I mean the style and the design of the clothes cannot be anything more simpler. It is not anything that you haven’t seen in your life, on the contrary, it is something that you see on the streets every day. However, it is not each individual article of clothing that makes the fashion, it is how you put it together. How all of them combine to form an entire outfit on a person. To put it in food terms, it can be interesting tasting the ingredients that are in a paella, separately, they would taste good, but bland and simple and not something you haven’t tried before. But once you put it together, that is when the flavours combine to make the extravagant dish.
The combination of sweaters and skirts, tights with socks over and Vans on, long cardigan and waist length jacket. These are combinations I haven’t even thought of trying, yet, seeing it here, every day on the streets, it makes me think that it works. Not that I do it to be honest with you, I still think it is a weird combination, and even though I would think it looks okay, I think it looks okay on others. I tried it once, had to change my clothes instantly. 

The diversity of the patterns and colours, at least for every day wear, not the high end brands, might not be as big as you’d see within the western fashion, however, by layering, they achieve the desired ‘complicated and thought of’ effect. The majority of the colours that you see are neutral, dark, wintery tones and the designs do not go over simple writing or a small printed image.



Is made by layers



I touched the subject of layers earlier, and said that this is what it gives the ‘thought of’ effect. When I say layers I mean as many as possible. Does not matter that normally you’d think it would look chunky and not good. Korean fashion manages to pull it off.

Vest (tank top), shirt over it and a cardigan over that and another jacket over it are the basic layering effect you’ll see on the streets of Korea, male or female, it goes just as well regardless. My favourite look has to be the turtleneck blouse with a jumper over it and another cardigan to go along. I was not a fan of turtlenecks before I came to Korea. To me they reminded me of school uniforms too much. Just as white does. However, seeing the nice and fresh effect the layering brings to it, made me change my mind. The other one that I love and I can actually pull off most of the time, would be shirt underneath pullover or a sweater. Depending on which one you choose you could play in between the 90s style or business chick yet casual style.
Huge chunky cardigans rock the Korean fashion, whilst 70s style denim jackets which look too big on you, as if you’d stolen your mother’s clothes complete a casual yet funky look. The jackets, as it is still the cold(er) season, that you see are big plain turndown collars double breasted for the majority, however, you do happen to see some trenches here and there, mostly on people who rock the casual business look.

How does this layering not make it look chunky? That brings me to the next thing I have noticed…


Baggy? Skinny?



My answer is both. How? Simple, the layering has to be done with baggy clothes, at least top ones, if not that would indeed make it look chunky, however, to counteract that, skinny is required at the bottom. And by skinny I do not mean your size, I mean jeans. Or any type of trousers, leggings, jeggings that show off the natural shape of your leg without hindering it too much. And how could I forget about skirts? And those too. Preferably short ones. Of course it is not a must, but it would make you feel a bit more comfortable about your chunkiness at the top if the actual shape of your body can be seen at the bottom. Just a little bit.

The first time I tried the chunky look I felt like Santa Claus. The second time, it made me feel as if I had too much luggage at the airport and I layered them on me to get rid of the extra kilograms in it. That is exactly the feel of it. But then again, when you are not used to wearing something for the first time, you would feel as if you need to make sad excuses. Even though skinny jeans, leggings and skirts are more popular worn with the layered, baggy clothing, another trend that has taken over would be the high waist three-quarter wide leg pants, or more professionally known as culottes. In Korea they have been a big thing starting summer of last year, and funnily enough, they have taken over all over the world. But whilst in the western world you have seen them with ankle boots or booties, in Korea it is standard to dress them down with vans and sneakers, slip ons, converse and the most dressed up I have seen is oxforders for women and loafers for men. And yes, men do wear culottes. And I see nothing wrong with that.



This sounds comfortable though doesn’t it? That is because it is…


Comfortable yet impractical



Layering and wearing baggy clothes sounds comfortable, right? It is, at the same time, it is not worn at the appropriate time. Layering sounds perfect for cold weather, and especially if it is baggy, it sounds even cosier and warm doesn’t it? I do have to add though, that layering is seen even during summers. I had the chance to experience Korean summer myself. And I have to add, it is extremely suffocating and wet. And if you are not Korean, you tend to sweat. It might sound gross, but it is a normal bodily function, and it happens to all of us lets admit it. Layers do not sound as fun now do they?
The same problem is with short skirts. You might imagine wearing them during summer, letting the sun hit those legs that acquired that perfect wintery paleness. But that is not the case; short skirts are a must during winter as well. And as hot the summers are here, the winters are just as cold. And no matter what DEN your tights might be, your legs still feel that frostbite. But that does not seem to bother the Korean girls in any way. Thus, winter and summer styles are not that different, and with the lack of vibrant colours within their wardrobe it makes it even more accessible at any time of the year. I will have to add though, many of these things happen because…


Still governed by social rules



I have to redeem the short skirts somehow, Koreans do wear them in the summer, along with shorts, however, paired with the upper body long sleeved anything. And that is not only because they seem to be lacking in the sweat glands department, that is mostly because it is a social stigma to show shoulders and back in Korea. I have no idea why, and I will not try to pretend I know. I just know that if you do want those arms to get some sun, you’ll have to deal with Tshirt tan lines. That is as far as you could go with the Korean fashion. They do have the option of vests and tank tops to buy, however, these are mostly worn as part of the layering effect. Thus if you remember the: ‘Show as much leg as you want to the point where you are wondering if you are wearing anything, but never show shoulders and back’ you should be fine.

And I am pretty sure everybody has at least watched one Korean drama or knows of Korean pop music, if you do then you must also know that…


Trend is a must!



It is not by any chance that Korean dramas choose certain brands for their actors to wear. The next day it becomes a must and a staple within the wardrobe here. If actors such as Won Bin or Song Joong Ki have worn it, or Shin Min Ah or Song Hye Kyo have been seen in a drama wearing it, then you should go and grab it while you can. Because you know that the next day they’ll be out of stock. That is, if you want to go with the trend, a thing that happens very often here in Korea. The trend governs whatever the Koreans would wear, and with no exception. No diversity whatsoever, thus it is really not that hard to follow fashion trends here in Korea. Not even the shops give you that many things to choose from. Just what is considered to be trend at the moment. Thus, most brands would use Korean stars as their ‘ambassadors’. If G Dragon wore it, then I have to.




Lastly, I have to add one more thing…a bit more personal…


Guys vs girls (no I am not trying to be sexist)



I stated before I am not an expert when it comes to fashion, just a passionate one, but I have noticed a difference in guys’ fashion and girls’. Unless you want to talk about couple outfits which are a must and a staple when you are dating in Korea. The outfits have to be matching and colour coordinated. I will not go into detail about the matching underwear that you can find either. So guys and girls, put your pride aside and start matching, I have to admit sometimes it is cute and endearing.



 Going back to guys vs girls, you might think, of course there is a difference. But what I mean by difference, I mean the variety and the styles. Guys’ fashion seems to be a lot more developed than girls’. And that can be seen from the variety of styles you see men wearing, however girls’ just stick to a few ones. And I thought, that might be because that is the trend nowadays; however, looking what the shops offered I noticed that there is no variety. That struck me as odd, and I might have a few theories that might explain why that is. It is a story for another day though. But what I am trying to say is, as a guy you’d have more chances to find something that would suit your style. As a girl, you might have to change the style and accept that there is no other style available for women fashion at the moment. Girls, think cute.

The clothes are mostly for them and their body types



Thus, if you feel like they do not fit, they make you look chunky, weird and the normal size that you would wear at home does not fit, then do not fret. Mostly, all the products that you will see, are for their body types, their style and their sizes. Just up the size and you should be fine. They do have larger sizes normally, so it will not be hard to find something that will fit. However, do not think you put on weight just because the size does not fit. Korean small size is impossible to wear, even being a small size at home.  Do not worry if you think it looks bad when something does not fit. 
I am almost confident I have not said everything I had to say, but fashion is such a broad subject, that it would take me weeks probably to talk about Korean fashion and what I have noticed about it. Also I briefly touched the subject of shoes and nothing about other styles such as hair and makeup and where you could find such style, for cheap or not, brand name or not. I will do separate posts about that soon. Fashion-out!

LOX

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