K-pop? K-beauty? K-drama?…No! It’s K- FASHION!

04 Oct K-pop? K-beauty? K-drama?…No! It’s K- FASHION!

K-fashion! Have you never heard of that before?

Since 1990, there has been the Korean Wave. The Korean Wave is the increase in global popularity of the South Korean culture. First, there was the spread of K-drama, K-beauty and K-pop worldwide, carried by the internet and social media. And then came K-fashion.

K-fashion has taken over the world. The world is raving about K-fashion and the fashion compass is turning towards the Western part of the world nowadays. This is why -surprise, surprise- Seoul Fashion Week has become a huge success, where people from all over the world come to.

So, what makes K-fashion so special?

Nowadays, most people who are interested in fashion, are young and look for the ‘street scene’. K-fashion is a lot of street culture; the streetwear is affordable (which is a huge plus) and influenced by K-pop stars and K-entertainment. The fashion in Seoul moves fast and is very trend-driven. Korean designers focus on street fashion, which attracts all the youngsters to K-fashion.

I know what you think. Many countries focus on streetwear. What makes Seoul so different?

Seoul is focused on the youth’s perspective. They do not focus on the adult at all. So, all the ‘classy’ clothing that targets the elders are left behind. Seoul is really driving the trends forward and people all over the world start obsessing over K-fashion. The look they go for, is ‘cool’, focusing on the HipHop streetwear.

Seoul Fashion Week, Gangham’s Rodeo Street and Dongdaemun Market are full with international designers and buyers all over the world, trying to understand what it is that drives all the consumers to this market. K-Fashion has a large range of categories, including bags and luxury accessories. Rihanna, Rita Ora and Whiz Khalifa are examples of long-term clients of K-fashion.

Korean streetwear is the King

With a wide range of different colors, modern techniques, crafts and the use of different experimental fabrics, K-fashion’s collection is seen as fresh millennial ideals.  Korean millennials are experiencing a whole different world, compared to their parents’. With the technological advancements of the 20^th century, the Korean millennials have a whole new and fresh platform where they can communicate with the world.

There is a massive cultural shift in Korea and their streetwear fashion.

Tory Turk is an independent exhibition curator, specializing in fashion, style and popular culture. ‘I think it is about youth culture’s obsession with desiring to be both unique and ubiquitous and (monograms or logos) are streetwear codes that satisfy this paradox.’ Turk said.

Even though K-fashion is inspired by American and European cultures, they have made their own streetwear fashion styles, which is seen to be more popular.

So, it seems that the whole world should start focusing on the K-fashion and their streetwear, since they are already taking over the world.