The Selects - 8 Korean Designers Present Fall Winter 2022 Collection at Paris Fashion

8 Korean designers in Paris From February 28 to March 5, 2022, the showroom The Selects propose to discover 8 emerging and confirmed designers. 8 talents and personalities from the Korean fashion scene ready to take over the world.

Lead by the Korean government via the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as well as the KOCCA (The Korea Creative Content Agency), The Selects launched in 2018 in New York’s Soho district before offering its digital version in recent seasons.

The parisien showroom of The Selects marks their big return in its physical format and features the brands Youser, Wnderkammer, Verso, The Studio K, Kye, Hankim, Eenk and C-Zanne E.

Youser

Youser is a streetwear label influenced by art, subculture and largely inspired by the deconstruction vibe. Designer Lee Moo-yeol, trained in Seoul at the Samsung Art and Design Institute collaborated for the men’s brand M-Vio before launching his brand Youser in 2011. Artistic director of the women’s brand 1159STUDIO, winner of the Woolmark Prize Asia in 2018, invited to Milan Fashion Week in 2019, he has been showcasing his work for several seasons in Seoul Fashion Week. Entitled Good Nightmare, the PRE FALL 2022 collection is inspired by the boundaries between reality and fiction as well as the ambiguities between dreams and nightmares. Themes that resonate with the crisis episode of COVID-19.

C-ZANNE E

It is in New York that the designer Seo Jung Lee was trained. After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology, she began her career as a designer in Manhattan before moving to Seoul where she created her brand. Her equation: an avantgarde Korean spirit combined with a minimalist design, all guided by air and movement. Movement and freedom is the theme chosen by the designer for the FALL WINTER 2022 collection, inspired by the work of painter Hongdo Kim, «A Boy Dancer».

EENK

The Eenk brand was conceived by the designer Lee Hyemee. A creator with an original background, she has worked in women’s and men’s ready-to-wear design as well as children’s, textile and accessory design. In 2013, she imagined Eenk, a project designed around the letters of the alphabet, associated for each season with a different theme, and which claims unexpected collections and unconventional color choices. For the FALL WINTER 2022 collection, the Eenk designer chose the letter V for Vintage. A spirit of powerful elegance, she explains, and glamour, largely inspired by the 80’s version of Vogue magazine.

HANKIM

Graduated from the Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins, Korean designer Han Kim got discovered when he presented his first collection at Paris Fashion Week for Spring Summer 2020. A reinterpretation of the beauty of the modern woman combined with a choice of always surprising details and an experimental color palette. A style that since then seduced the Shanghai Fashion Week where the designer is invited to present his collections. «Tip-toe» is the name of the FALL WINTER 2022 collection chosen by Han Kim. A reference to the human body and its lines, and to the changes of pace and shape imposed by the variety of our postures.

THE STUDIO K

At the origins of The Studio K, the designer Hyejin Hong and his vision of contemporary fashion strongly influenced by the concept of the future. The expression of a «modern sensibility» where technology, design, history, culture and science are combined. The Studio K imagines minimal silhouettes designed for women. Inspired by the film Welcome to Gattaca, the FALL WINTER 2022 collection is presented under the following title: «Universe: There is no gene for fate» or the expression of a microcosm with unlimited human potential where dreams of the ideal are forged.

KYE

Born in Detroit, Korean-American Kathleen Hanhee Kye now based in Seoul, first trained at Central Saint Martins before launching her brand Kye in 2013. A pop and streetwear spirit sprinkled with American references that quickly earned her a selection in Opening Ceremony stores. Invited to present her collection for New York Fashion Week in 2014, the designer was a finalist for the LVMH Prize the same year and received the Samsung Fashion Design Fund award in 2015. The FALL WINTER 2022 collection titled ArKyev collection is a flash back to the roots of the brand and the first decade of her designs. A mix of Art Fashion, inspirations from archival pieces and couture elegance with pop accents.

VERSO

Kwon Soon Jin imagined Verso in 2017. A name chosen in reference to the French word «verso», referring to the back of a sheet of paper, and the designer’s wish to reveal in us our hidden side and personality. To the ready-to-wear designed to sublimate the beauty of an elegant and comfortable feminine wardrobe, the designer adds since 2018 a selection of bags, shoes and jewelry with designs thought to go through the years. For her FALL WINTER 2022 collection named «Natural Shape», Verso is inspired by «natural movements and flows, memories of places and marks left behind» to compose a new timeless collection of clothes and objects.

WNDERKAMMER

Hye Young Shin is the creator of the brand Wnderkammer. A label with a minimalist spirit, clear and pure lines, anchored on eco-responsibility and organic materials. Wnderkammer refers, in German, to a secret room dedicated to the conservation of beautiful objects and treasures. Graduated of Hongik University in Seoul, she launched her brand in 2010 and presented her collections at New York’s Digital Fashion Week in 2021. Tender is the night is the title of the FALL WINTER 2022 collection by Wnderkammer, directly inspired by the poem «On the street» written by the Korean poet Yoon Dong-joo. A collection full of subtlety, playing on beautiful materials and pure elegance.