Concept Korea returns to New York Fashion Week with an all-new roster of designers KIMMY.J, CHARM’S and MMAM, providing a stunning snapshot of the many unique design styles prevalent in the Korean fashion industry. From punk-inspired avant-garde compositions from KIMMY.J, to wearable art with MMAM, and alluring styles from CHARM’S, each designer transforms garments into distinct forms of storytelling.
Designers Jenny Kim and Haeun Lee of KIMMY.J strive to create socially meaningful pieces, often partnering with artists who have poignant messages to convey. Avant-garde interpretations of streetwear manifest their Spring/Summer 2024 collection into the cycle of chakra and karma with a focus on physical and mental rest. Linear tropes are apparent through texture and decidedly contrasting outlines that create balance.
As an emotional brand, CHARM’S creative director Yohan Kang is on a mission to create pieces that empower the wearer with confidence and poise. Playing on culture and youth, his collections tell larger stories about the current state of the world. For the Spring/Summer 2024 collection, CHARM’S zooms out and analyzes Earth as a stage showing human nature and the juxtaposition between compassion and conflict, taking shape in the harmony of unbalanced mixed and matched configurations that feature the brand’s signature incisions.
MMAM designer Hyun Park highlights the philosophical value of family through elements of graffiti embroidered into classic silhouettes. Inspired by doodle drawings, the signature graffiti evokes a child’s first visual language and a human instinct to yearn for play. The Spring/Summer 2024 season focuses on self-acceptance through a collection that is genderless, ageless and sizeless.
About Concept Korea:
Concept Korea is a global fashion program hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA).
It has been an official program at NYFW since 2010 and is a collaborative project to promote Korean fashion designers and assist them in their attempts to break into the U.S. fashion market, hosting annual fashion shows to showcase Korean designers’ collections selected by industry leaders and experts.
Images courtesy of Zach Hilty / BFA and Rob Berry / BFA
