South Korea is creating a new dimension of fashion. From tradition-inspired Korean hanbok designs to whimsical, magical fantasies to cutting street style fashion seen all over Asia, the future of fashion is being shifted by Korean designers who make dreams of fabric. Here’s the designers we love the most for their visions, and who you’ll want to keep an eye on for their future creations.
#1
Minjukim
You know her as the winner of Netflix’s Next in Fashion with a $250,000 prize to build out her brand. But Minjukim has being doing incredible art in the year since with a smoothie of whimsical designs and Korean inspired silhouettes, such as the traditional Korean hanbok dress. Part space pixie, part Home on the Prairie goes digital, her entire collection highlights the beauty of many areas of Korean inspired design with specific Minjukim taste and humor.
#2
PAINTERS
PAINTERS, by Won Jeon, is true to the name with dresses like cascading, voluptuous paint in the air laid around human forms. Awarded the H&M x London College of Fashion Design in 2015, Won Jeon has since created a design label known for experimentation and playful winks. PAINTERS gives texture to space and makes sculptures of fabric, questioning the dynamic of clothing and air. His blocky, oversized shapes were a trend-setter for 2021’s oversized silhouettes.
#3
NOTKNOWING
South Korea has incredible street style, and NOTKNOWING takes the casual wardrobe of street style and makes sharp basics and edgy variations that are different enough to make you look twice. Graphics, color-blocking, and interesting stylistic details on comfortable, moving clothes solidifies designer Sieun Kim’s brand as an unstoppable force in the street style game.
#4
Seokwoon Yoon
Deconstruction is an incredible theme in Korean fashion with garments dangling and recreated. Seokwoon Yoon’s F/W 2021 presented atheliesure and suits with a twist. His bold play on shapes and colors sets the ground for fashion as we emerge from the Covid crisis – chill, flowy, with an element of surprise.
#5
Pian
HyunHo Kim’s line, Pian, is for men with style wit. His dapper dandy is a well-clad man with an underside of whimsy in line with the driving trend of mens’ red carpet style to contemplate with gender, colors, and patterns. Checkered, plaid, textured, asymmetrical details, and fabrics alive with texture gave both an unsettling and comfortably magical aura to Pian’s 2021 collection.
