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From Seoul to Paris: Time-tested style
“A person falls in love in the same way as they fall down the stairs. It’s an accident,” is how Ogonek’s relationship with the System Studios brand can be described.
For System Studios' anniversary, we're talking about the brand's new collection and explaining why it's our favorite of the FW20 season.
Fresh to the European fashion lover, clothing brand System Studios celebrated its 30th anniversary in Paris with the presentation of its new fall-winter collection.
Until last year, Korean fashionistas managed to remain incognito for most street style aesthetes of the old continent. They focused exclusively on the local market, being under the wing of Hyundai. Yes, the very Hyundai that made the Korean car industry famous all over the world.
Many megacorporations have their own small, usually niche, protégé brands. System Studios is one of them. And although in Seoul their stores have been located in the prestigious Gangnam district for many years, in Europe you can still only find out about them “from their own people.”
Chance and luck: how we found System Studios
While shopping for clothes during Paris Fashion Week, we came across a collection by a Korean brand in one of our Paris partners’ showrooms. After asking about the brand, we received an invitation to a private show that captivated us. It was a big surprise that a little-known Korean brand could impress with its freshness and novelty.
Despite its success on social media, the brand's clothing still remains a little-known alternative to European fashion houses — it's a truly subtle Eastern take on European trends.
"New Order" - British rock or new order
The brand celebrated its anniversary by releasing a new fall-winter collection with the proud name "New Order". This name can be considered both a reference to the legends of British rock of the late 1980s - the group of the same name, and a reflection on the theme of a new world order, the onset of which is predicted after the end of the pandemic. The post-apocalyptic entourage of the lookbook may well confirm the second assumption. On the other hand, new order is also a "new order", and System Studios is famous for radical changes from season to season, from thing to thing, from order to order.
If you look at the photos of the best streetwear looks at fashion weeks in London, Paris or Milan, it’s hard not to notice that the majority of fashionistas are Asian. This trend has been observed for almost a decade now. The role of the “fashion capital” of the world is smoothly passing from the “big four” to Tokyo and Seoul.
Aesthetics are part of Korea's national identity
Previously, Asian style could only be imagined in two manifestations: it was either the couture and inaccessible cyberpunk of Yohji Yamamoto and its derivatives, or cheap fakes of dubious quality.
But now the "Asian mania" has literally captured everyone: the "middle class" of the fashion world has changed the base of their wardrobe from the Spanish brand Zara to the Japanese Uniqlo, and hundreds of publications for post-hipsters and skaters are writing "about Korean brands that everyone should know."
System Studios, in turn, successfully demonstrates how traditionally Asian motifs and forms are successfully assimilated into the European lifestyle. If the flashy 2000s paid tribute to the Italian "hot" style, then the 2010s and already the 2020s are a time of rigor and classics, qualities inherent in Asian culture.
"Quiet" luxury
This season is marked by neutral shades: delicate pastel tones do not distract from the quality of the fabric and the non-standard approach to each part of the collection.
Some items can become a quality wardrobe base, while trench coats, skirts, and non-standard-shaped jackets are highlights that you can't take your eyes off.
Deconstructing the classic beige trench coat is one of the main trends of fashion weeks, and System Studio is changing the shape and cut of the trench coat in an original way, transforming it from a wardrobe "classic" into a calling card. Without using neon fabrics and odious accessories, the brand manages to combine the classics of ready-to-wear with the wow effect of high fashion.
This "quiet" luxury is constantly evolving and at the same time frozen in the past. A combination of changing fashion and timeless classics - all fashion dilemmas coexist in the "new order" of System Studios.
If System Studios were a film, it would be an arthouse in the spirit of Trier.
Like the Danish master's cinema, not everyone will understand the System Studios style, but those who do will fall in love for a long time. It's not difficult to attract attention with a Gucci print or an LV bag, but the most enjoyable thing is to make passersby and friends guess and ask about the "origin" of your things. Logomania and excessive motley can make a person fashionable, but style is about something else. Therefore, if fast fashion screams shrilly, then "underground" aesthetes, including System Studios, whisper in your ear.