Seoul Trend Week welcomes guests from all around the world each season, whether or not they’re vogue lovers flaunting their fashion or buyers keen to buy from Korean designers. On the just lately concluded Fall/Winter 2024 (W/W) present, one nation specifically stood out as an avid fan of Korean couture: Taiwan.
“There have been quite a few events when Ok vogue all of the sudden grew to become tremendous widespread in Taiwan,” Su Tsen-Hung, 35, instructed Korea JoongAng Day by day in an interview throughout Seoul Trend Week at Dongdaemun Design Plaza. in central Seoul earlier this yr. month. Su is the CEO of Nihow and N.Core, that are clothes boutiques in Taiwan that focus solely on Korean manufacturers, and he visited them as a purchaser.
The coats had been an instance of a sensation that modified the style paradigm in Taiwan, largely as a result of SBS romantic comedy fantasy tv sequence “My Love from the Star” (2013-14), starring Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun.
Not solely was the present itself successful, however the sequence' authentic soundtrack, meals, and vogue gained recognition all over the world, and Taiwan was no exception.
“Each girlfriend or spouse would have their boyfriend or husband strive on coats after seeing Kim Soo-hyun put on them on the present,” Su stated. “Gross sales of longer coats elevated considerably. Earlier than that, coats had been not often seen on the streets, however that exhibition utterly modified the fashion of Taiwanese individuals.”
For greater than a decade, Su has lined the Korean vogue marketplace for each Nihow and N.Core. Each boutiques import immediately from Korea, however Nihow is made up extra of unbranded wholesale clothes, usually from the Dongdaemun market, whereas N.Core focuses on licensed manufacturers akin to Andersson Bell, Nerdy, Kirsh, Ajobyajo, Mahagrid and Covernat.
At the moment, Nihow and N.Core every have two shops in Taiwan, together with Taipei's downtown east district. In contrast to Korea, brick-and-mortar gross sales in Taiwan are larger, with Nihow and N.Core collectively reaching a mean of $300,000 in gross sales monthly in 2023, 5 occasions greater than in 2021.
Each boutiques additionally function on-line.
Nihow has additionally labored with the Korean authorities, akin to on the shop's 10th anniversary in 2021, when it participated within the Ok-fashion Digital Pageant organized by the Ministry of Tradition, Sports activities and Tourism and the Korea Inventive Content material Company. The occasion was full of vogue exhibits from Korean designer manufacturers akin to LIE and tibaeg.
“Since Taiwan's vogue business is smaller in scale than Korea's, I at all times go to Korea throughout Seoul Trend Week to see what the system is,” Su stated, citing Musinsa Studio as a enterprise instance. that you simply want to evaluate. Musinsa Studio is a shared workplace house for vogue business employees, launched by the style e-commerce large. There are 5 branches all through Seoul.
Su wasn't the one Taiwanese business insider to go to Seoul Trend Week in search of inspiration. Tsai Yi-Ting and Hsiao Huifun, each from the Cultural Affairs Division of the Taipei Metropolis Authorities, additionally plan to seek out methods for Taipei Trend Week to collaborate with Seoul Trend Week sooner or later.
Like Seoul Trend Week, organized by the Seoul Metropolitan Authorities, the Taipei Metropolis authorities can be concerned in managing its personal Taipei Trend Week.
Though no particular particulars got about these future plans, Taipei Trend Week could incorporate pop-up outlets and interactive packages on web site to draw extra guests, just like Seoul Trend Week, Tsai instructed Korea JoongAng Day by day.
“There is no such thing as a doubt that Taiwanese are enthusiastic about Ok vogue,” he stated. “We’re additionally enthusiastic about sharing what Taiwanese vogue is with Koreans and actively exchanging fashion-related concepts between the 2 nations.”
Mild Monster, Osoi, Covernat, Codegraphy and Ajobyajo had been a few of the Korean manufacturers talked about through the interviews which are widespread amongst younger Taiwanese. Sara Huang, Vogue Taiwan's mission integration director who additionally visited Seoul Trend Week, praised Ajobyajo's newest present, which was impressed by the works of well-known Taiwanese photographer Chang Chien-Chi.
Chang is a member of the worldwide photographic cooperative Magnum Images and is thought for “The Chain”, a set of portraits he took in a sanatorium, which was later exhibited on the Venice Biennale in 2001 and the Sao Paulo Artwork Biennale in 2002.
“The Chain” was additionally an inspiration for Ajobyajo's A/W 2024 assortment, which “gained a number of media protection in Taiwan,” Huang stated, as a result of “Chang has received awards from the Taiwanese authorities and is taken into account an excellent artist.” status”.
Whereas Su got here to Korea in search of new concepts for his ongoing enterprise, Nihow's signature pants are one sort of product he has already modeled after Korean kinds. Su designed them himself particularly to suit Taiwanese physique sorts.
“Taiwanese, Japanese and Koreans have completely different heights and physique shapes, particularly within the decrease physique,” he stated. “Taiwanese are inclined to have larger butts. Japanese persons are shorter and Koreans are taller. “I needed to reinterpret the Korean fashion to make them a extra applicable measurement for Taiwanese prospects.”
One factor that worries Su, from a enterprise perspective, is that there may not be as a lot synergy between Ok vogue and Ok content material as many would possibly suppose.
“Increasingly Ok-pop idols have gotten ambassadors for European or American vogue manufacturers, akin to Dior or Chanel,” Su stated. “The garments and equipment worn by Korean celebrities can change into an on the spot hit, however more often than not they aren’t from Korean designer manufacturers. As a fan of Korean vogue, I feel it's a disgrace and I hope the world can uncover how versatile and high-quality Korean manufacturers are.”
BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]