Hallyu, or the Korean Wave that took over the world

In anticipation of the new collections of the FW21 season, we are opening a new season of our blog! It contains stories about new Ukrainian and foreign brands that we will introduce soon, new interviews with Ogonek people and heroes of our brands, personal stories of the team, guides and much more. And we will start with one of our favorite topics - Korea. What is the Korean wave, how Korean brands managed to quickly break into the global fashion market without betraying their culture, and why we personally admire them - all this is explained in the material below.

The Korean Wave, or Hallyu , is a concept that characterizes the penetration of South Korean culture far beyond its borders. It is rapidly taking over the world on all fronts: Parasite wins the main Oscar award, Korean pop groups are proudly at the top of the charts, and Korean-style clothing is successfully taking root in the European conservative microcosm of fashion. Korean fashion has turned from a subculture into a full-fledged player in the fashion world, and Seoul has confidently become the unspoken fifth capital of fashion. Sometimes even more influential than the other four: Paris, Milan, London and New York.

Interestingly, despite the wild success of Koreans in the world, there is not much information about them. This is the phenomenon of Korean fashion: everyone knows what it is, but few people really understand where it came from and what is behind it. The secrecy of the Korean people and the careful attitude towards their culture have allowed Korean brands to remain undercover, exporting their collections quite moderately to Europe and the USA. That is why, for example, you are unlikely to find a user-friendly website of a Korean brand in English. The doors of this world are slowly opening for you - and this makes you want to look inside even more.

Seoul is a multi-million-dollar metropolis that doesn't just sleep - it doesn't even blink. People rushing to work, the setting of a cyberpunk movie, robots instead of sales consultants and high-speed trains - in this chaos, fashion has found its peace. To balance all the madness around, Korean style leaves the most important things behind - restrained colors and flowing styles, inspired either by national costumes or by the practical desire for freedom of movement. The most complex images are sometimes hidden in the simplest forms, and excessive detailing often only emphasizes the emptiness of the idea.

Refined simplicity is something that many European designers fail to create, but something that Koreans have in their blood.

From the huge variety of Korean brands, we fell in love with and brought two: both of them have been in the wardrobe of every Seoul fashionista for more than a decade, but the European public got acquainted with them only a few years ago. The first of them is the Seoul brandLow Classic . In its name, it plays on the contrast of “high” and “low” fashion, defining its main goal - to become a classic of ready-to-wear fashion. Using minimalism as an ideological basis, the brand under the leadership of Myeongshin Lee explores it from a new angle, experimenting with styles, fabrics and colors, never going beyond the boundaries of the classics. We wrote more about the history of the brand in our blog in the spring.

The new Low Classic FW21 collection is called “Flow” — the designer was inspired by the water surface in its smooth chaos and purity. This collection, like every previous one, focuses on making things a part of your wardrobe for years to come. Durability is of particular importance to the Korean brand, as the team adheres to the principles of sustainability — using modern technological fabrics and minimizing waste during production, without sacrificing quality.

The second Korean brand with which we had chemistry isSystem Studios . We found it in Paris by accident , but very soon we realized that nothing happens by chance in the world. A year ago, the 'New Order' collection was remembered by the guests of Ogonyok and the world press for its punk spirit . And in the new season FW21, the Korean brand returns with the 'Odd/Even' collection, which considers two qualities inherent in the brand: originality and departure from the canons (odd) and integrity in the forms of sophisticated style (even).

The meeting of two worlds forms the true face of the brand: the frenetic rhythm of Korean life, united by a deep philosophy and inner order. A contrast that is skillfully emphasized by a bold rethinking of basic things.

System Studios successfully breaks another stereotype that is gradually disappearing from modern fashion: a clear separation between women's and men's clothing. Most of the brand's models look good on both boys and girls: loose styles and restrained colors allow you to choose things without checking their gender. After all, the wardrobe is first divided by seasons and events, and only then into men's and women's. That's why don't be afraid to experiment and combine masculine and feminine things.

Fashion shouldn't be complicated — it should be interesting. And the path brands choose to be interesting to the public is a question of the language of fashion and culture, that is, the "linguistics of style," which we examined using the example of Korea.

Hallyu is a symbol that even at a distance, locked inside the country, we can learn about new cultures and try to fit ourselves into our native cityscape, using the postulates of Korean minimalism. Try it yourself - together with Low Classic and System Studios.