a shaded view on fashion review - - TEXT BY PHILIPPE POURHASHEMI
One of the highlights of Seoul Fashion Week, Soulpot Studio was a standout show, combining intricacy and innovation with poetry and craftsmanship. Su Jinn Kim's vision is deeply personal and artistic, yet she manages to bring her garments back to reality, finding the right balance between art and commerce. Inspired by Seoul and its thriving energy, she often references traditional Korean clothes, giving them a modernist spin. I loved her use of silver and mesh this season, as well as her subtle draping and the way she mixed contrasting textures, adding depth to her pieces. Volumes were generous and soft, while fluidity defined most of her outfits. You can rely on Su Jinn Kim to cut a flawless tailored jacket or add lightness to a fuller skirt, but it's the emotion her shows create that make her a great designer.
2015 S/S SFW
ACTIV CALM
CATWALK SHOW
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2015 S/S COLLECTION
ACTIVE CALM
CATWALK PHOTO
marie france asia review - Editor in chife / Rana WEHBE
As with the previous SOULPOT shows, this one started with a deep and thoughtful prologue projected on the screen and images showing a fast-paced modern Seoul, a city which the designer describes as one that ‘has a scar of modernisation’. Entitled Active Calm, the SS15 collection comes as fourth in the series of ‘Project, Seoul’ where the designer interprets different aspects of the city and takes on its changing identity with all its pros – but perhaps more so, the cons.
Thus, Active Calm translated a wish to restore some of Seoul’s zen and calmness through juxtaposing elements of the past in a very modern interpretation. The result was as beautiful as it is touching. By taking some design elements from traditional Korean (and even Japanese) costumes and stripping them from bold colour, playing on their placement and presenting them in far more modern materials (cotton, linen, tencel, metal, etc…), colours (metallic, white, electric blue, etc…) and shapes (sporty, structured yet light weight, etc…) SOULPOT has delivered a strong conceptual yet very wearable collection which was definitely one of the highlights of this season’s fashion week. In short, it was profound emotions and nostalgic thoughts translated onto fabric in the most beautiful manner to create something far more meaningful and ‘deep’ than what most fashion deals with nowadays.