Concept Korea is an initiative that promotes South Korean fashion designers, and is run by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea. Since 2010, their mission has been to publicize Korea’s fashion culture throughout the world at large, and this season, the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) is supporting them, too. On Monday, the organization presented a dual presentation of top menswear talent for fall/winter 2016 from DBYD, designed by Dong-jun Kang, and Ordinary People, designed by Hyeong-cheol Jang.
DBYD presented “I’m Yours and I’m Not Yours”—a collection based off of the Spike Jonze’s movie Her, pairing the idea of “owning” and “being.” In the film, when the character’s emotions change, so do the literal colors in the cinematography. DBYD borrowed that idea, offering contrasting colors that fluctuate between sand beige, melange grey, cool grey, burgundy, red, black, and white. There were sights of wool, cotton, denim, nylon, polyester, rayon, and tencel too. Usually honing in on the urban culture and streetwear references, DBYD’s theme this season was emphasized by a few looks in particular: a long denim coat with futuristic seatbelt-like closure straps; black sunglasses with large frames and red lenses; and a red sweatpants and sweatshirt duo, topped by a long, light grey coat with thick, squiggling red lines.
Photo by Eliza Jordan
Ordinary People presented “Hotel People” to touch upon the times of rest in a person’s life. To showcase this idea, Hotel People tells the story of a hotel where people stay for their holiday vacation, all the way from shoppers and limousine-takers, to the regular, everyday people who enjoy the little elements of their vacation. Fabrics in wool, silk faille, cotton, silk candy, faux fur, and suede were seen in a variety of colors, such as dark green, neutral grey, bottle green, midnight blue, yellow ochre, and camel. A few looks that stood out included: A leopard print jacket in camel with a faux fur collar; a baby pink jacket with a white trim, topped with a silk neck scarf and spotted shoes; black open heel and toe sandals with a large, brown furry strap; a long, sleeveless grey vest with two large pockets, complemented by round-frame sunglasses that matched the long sleeved undershirt; and a furry dark and light brown jacket; a red and white smoking pajama jacket and pants; and a long blue dress shirt with white, capped sleeves, under a black sweatshirt donned with with a yellow-gold city skyline and moon.
