WOOYOUNGMI PARIS FW2023

This collection studies the culture of the royal family of Silla, which shaped Korea for a thousand years from 57 to 935 BC, and reinterprets its expression in a modern language.

Youngmi Woo, a designer who has identified with Parisian fashion tendencies, is inspired by the new generation's curiosity about her country. In Youngmi Woo's 23FW collection, this phenomenon inspired designer Youngmi Woo to reflect on the historical and artistic relationship between Korea and the West. In 1900, the Korean Pavilion was opened at the World's Fair in Paris, and this magnificent building recontextualized the Parisian environment, which was built in the style of a Korean palace but was renovated by the Haussmanns.

The 23FW collection maintains the shape of jewels that were used as excessive decorative elements by the royal family of Shilla in the past, but leaves only the core shape and expands it to a sculptural dimension. These decorate the front, seam, and collar of classic menswear cuts and generational workwear, resembling the modern cityscape of Seoul where futuristic buildings and traditional pagodas collide but harmonize. This method is also reflected in the functioning of proportions. Jackets, knitwear, handbags and belts made of leather and artificial snakeskin repeat expansion and contraction in large and small proportions, which simultaneously reflects the search for the Y2K silhouette found in designer Woo Young-mi's early works.

Instead of pop culture defining today's Western view of Korea, designer Youngmi Woo looks at the artistic exchanges between Paris and Seoul at the turn of the century through a 21st-century lens. The concept created romantic silhouettes loosely influenced by Belle Epoque sensibility created by the brand's structured, utilitarian approach. Modern riding coats, colored suits, and riding boots have been transformed into the spacious, teen-centric forms that were a hallmark of Youngmi Woo's early 2000s work. The historical premise crosses over to Edwardian England, where shooting jackets, padded coats and stalking trousers can be transformed into the cargo garments that are the hallmark of today's urban wardrobe.