Stylish Celebs, Fashion Trends To Watch, And Welcome Surprises From 2019 F/W Seoul Fashion Week

Apr 9, 2019

The 2019 F/W Seoul Fashion Week just ended, and we were there to catch all the action: the fabulous runways, scene-stealing stars, and the trends that will soon be seen not just all over Korea but also around the world. Fashion Week in Korea is unlike any other because the styling is distinct and the stars don’t tend to go over-the-top when it comes to their outfits. Street style, athleisure, and casual wear are always the top sartorial choices, and it’s how they carry the clothes with confidence that makes a big difference. This season, just like the last, the stars embraced comfort and effortless styles with one standout item, color, or accessory to keep things interesting and fresh.

Spotted: Korean celebrities in the front rows and on the blue carpet

Red Velvet’s Wendy

f(x)’s Luna

Fashion Week staples: T-ara’s Hyomin, Eunjung, and Jiyeon

B1A4’s Jinyoung

JBJ95’s Kenta and Kim Sang Gyun

Golden Child’s Bomin and Daeyeol

Bada

Camila

CLC’s Yeeun and Seungyeon

9MUSES’ Moon Hyuna and Hyemi

AOA’s Jimin

SHINee’s Taemin

Lee Da Hee

EXO’s Sehun

Weki Meki

WJSN’s Eunseo, Yeorum, Bona

Soyou

gugudan’s Mina

Lovelyz’s Yein and Sujeong

Lovelyz’s Mijoo and Kei

VIXX’s Hyuk

Park Si Yeon

Kwon Hyun Bin

Nam Tae Hyun

Girls’ Generation’s Seohyun

Han Sun Hwa

Lia Kim

Park Na Rae

IZ*ONE’s Kang Hye Won, Kim Chae Won, Honda Hitomi

Bizzy, Tiger JK and Yoon Mirae

“SKY Castle” cast

Runway highlights: Some of the stars went back to their roots of being models and stole the show:

Lee Ki Woo, Bae Jung Nam, and Cha Seung Won for menswear brand SONGZIO

PENTAGON’s Shinwon for Studio Seong

Sung Hoon for Caruso

Lee Sung Kyung was the only female model at the BEYOND CLOSET runway

Fall/Winter fashion trends and key takeaways

Diversity on the runway

Seoul Fashion Week is relatively young compared to the “Big Four” fashion capitals: Paris, Milan, New York, and London. Just a few years ago, the models featured in campaigns, TV, and runways were all Korean, making them household names just like regular celebrities.

But with Korean culture and society rapidly going global, the media and various industries are opening up to different races, sexual orientations, beliefs, nationalities, abilities, and most importantly, to real people. This fashion week is no exception. Greedilous featured sledge hockey player Minsu Han, who represented Korea in the 2010 and 2014 Paralympic Winter Games. A Korean voguing dancer made a surprise appearance in the Studio Seong show by dancing confidently and showed everybody his moves all throughout the runway. In the same show, some people who were not models also walked the runway, and the brand Doucan featured one of the first Kenyan models to ever make it in mainstream Korean fashion, Eunice Onyango.

Greedilous, Studio Seong, and Doucan

Neon is in

Korean fashion would not be complete without some color, but it’s especially more pronounced this season as the usual dark, drab colors of falls and winters past gave way to bright, loud green, hot pink, orange, and yellow neon colors.

People of the World and Greedilous

Ultra-feminine details

Korean fashion often threads into extremes — soft or edgy — and this season, we saw a lot of sheer details and lace that were mixed with more casual pieces like jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers. But interestingly, menswear brand Caruso blurred the lines of women and menswear with florals, ruffles, and skirts for men — because why not?

SOONSU and Dew E Dew E

Caruso

Plaid Power

These preppy stripes are all over this season’s collections, but with an update here and a fresh detail there. Plaid is definitely here to stay, or at least that’s what these numerous stripe incarnations are showing.

BIG PARK and Bourie

Tough guy aesthetic

Menswear brand Lemeteque’s inspiration was the film “A Better Tomorrow” by Chow Yun Fat, a famous “heroic bloodshed” film genre from Hong Kong: thus the clothes with the theme of gangsters, partners in crime, male friendships, and a whole lot of attitude.

Cute hyper-prints

What is Korean fashion without that element of cute? This brand knows how to have fun with color and print combinations that are enough to make anybody smile.

SETSETSET

High Shine

Metallics and iridescent materials are just as hot as neon pieces, and they appeared in a variety of forms: in formal wear, sporty, and casual looks. We bet we’ll be seeing some of these outfits in K-pop videos soon!

LIE, D ANTIDOTE, and Seokwoon Yoon

Eyecandy

Pastels are always pleasing to the eye, but they’re usually associated with spring or summer. But it looks like they’ll dominate fall and winter, too!

Moon J and Modernable

Different takes on trench

Trench coats will always be classic, and this time they got fresh new upgrades from these Korean designers.

Youser, BETTERKIND, Blanc de Noirs, YCH

Fringe and a touch of Western style

We’re calling it — western-inspired looks and fringes are going to be huge this F/W!

KYE and Youser

Zero Waste Fashion

Environmentally-conscious fashion made its debut on the runway with PARTs PARTs, which showed a collection that had a zero-waste concept weaved through their comfortable, practical, and beautiful clothes you can wear over and over. It’s about time!

PARTs PARTs