East Asian Designers at Paris Fashion Week 2024

Paris Fashion Week is a biannual fashion extravaganza wherein the finest faces and minds of fashion descend upon the beautiful capital to witness the latest and greatest from rising fashion designers. This year , the week ran from the 18th to the 23rd of June. We rounded up some of the outstanding East Asian designers who have outdone themselves with their flair for edgy yet elegant fashion this season! 

Feng Chen Wang
Fen Chen Wang is a Chinese-descended designer based in London. She graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 2015 and debuted at New York Fashion Week in 2016. Her designs blend Chinese heritage and traditional craftsmanship with her classic deconstructed aesthetic, resulting in dynamic pieces that center on the brand ethos "to own less is to own more."This year, her collection dazzled, transitioning from somber workplace browns and khakis to dignified evening wear. From teal-hued neckties to netted polo shirts and gradient denim outerwear, the collection enthralls with its dynamic and fresh take on workwear.

Juun.J
Juun.J is a Korean fashion designer who created his own fashion label "Lone Costume" in 1999, which attracted a cult following. He debuted his namesake label in 2007, blending his avant-garde aesthetic with classical tailoring to create a unique silhouette. His "Street Tailoring" is inspired by modern streetwear trends.

His reinterpretation of 1950s workwear made waves at Paris Fashion Week. This collection follows the theme of "WORKOUTURE," utilizing bomber jackets, mermaid dresses, culottes, tailored jackets, and hoodies to create an artful combination of haute couture and workwear. This eclectic reimagining of workwear makes use of unconventional materials like raw denim, wool, knit, jersey, lace, and sequins!

Sean Suen
Sean Suen is a Chinese designer who founded his brand in 2012. His fine arts degree helps him refine his highly personalized brand into a vessel for the future of masculinity and male fashion. This year, his collection draws inspiration from Mei Lanfang's "dual identities," a master of the Peking Opera. Throughout his career, Lanfang paortrayed over 180 female characters on stage, exuding beauty that transcended societal gender constraints.

The new Sean Suen collection blends daily attire, diplomatic garments, and theatre attire. The collection integrates silk tassels, jade balls, and cloud collars with more traditional Chinese garments like the buttoned Mandarin jacket. Suen extracts traditional colours with stage appeal, like red, yellow, and green, and juxtaposes them against neutral blacks and greys to create a more modern palette.

WooyoungMi
Youngmi Woo, a South Korean designer, launched his brand WooyoungMi in 2002 as a men's fashion label. They have twenty-four standalone stores in Asia and one in Europe. This year, her collection reflects the East-West diffusion of ideas, focusing on the style of the "ABK" or the American Born Korean and their blending of intercollegiate prep, sporty styles, and "California Surfer" aesthetics, which have in turn influenced Korean fashion trends.

Ziggy Chen
Shanghai-born designer Ziggy Chen launched his brand in 2012 with the primary goal of bridging the gap between Eastern and Western cultures. His ready-to-wear lines are inspired by films and music from the 80s, and he uses innovative tailoring with thoughtful minimalism to create a muted and earthy aesthetic.

The collection displayed at Paris Fashion Week was titled "Gnarticate," a word derived from a Chinese idiom. The collection features a palette of muted yet natural tones of green, gray, and hazy purple, with loose and airy silhouettes. The cuts are inspired by the play of light on architecture and shadows reflected on voids and solids.

Words Aliya Anand
Date 27.06.2024