SEOUL FASHION WEEK SS18: BLINDNESS
BLINDNESS Spring/Summer 2018 collection review.
Words Joie Reinstein, Media Seoul Fashion Week
Semi Finalists of the LVMH 2017 Fashion awards, BLINDNESS is currently one of the most anticipated brands to come out of Korea. The couple behind this avant-garde label strive to push the boundaries of Korean tradition while mixing in global influences and multi-era references. Largely responsible for the New Romantic trend in South Korea the last few years, every collection always showcases a large amount of opulence and decadence. The SS18 collection titled Young and Beautiful seem to almost want to set a new agenda of what young and beautiful actually means. Within the confines of a more Confucian gender defined culture, BLINDNESS gave us a wonderful moment of gender neutral positivity. Clad in heels, corsets and masks, it was almost impossible to distinguish whether the models were male or female. It boldly made the statement that in the world of fashion sartorial stereotypes are a thing of the past.
This collection paid homage to some of the fashion masters such as Margiela, Galliano and Kawakubo with its voluminous silhouettes, French revolution styling and dark romance. Nonetheless the collection was defiantly Korean with its smart mix of textures and fabrics. Sport-like materials such as windbreaker nylons were made into billowing capes, bombers and coats, then layered over lacy frocks with ruffles and ruching. Gabardine suit materials were reworked into pleated asymmetrical skirts that looked like a future-romantic version of what a Spartan would wear. Transparency had a big moment, and was used for skirts, pants, and tops in colors ranging from nudes to bright reds. These pieces were layered under jackets and over shorts creating light volume and dimension on the wearer. New versions of aprons and overalls with utilitarian straps were also layered over more flouncy fabrics, taking what could be almost workwear to a place it really hasn’t been before.
Like in many of the other collections we saw at Seoul Fashion week this season, shoulders were having a major moment. Rather than referencing the 80s like many of it’s counterparts, BLINDNESS stuck to its core identity of medieval chic and went for mutton leg shapes. As for the color palette, it seemed to almost defy the idea of the spring season by serving up somber colors such as back, army green, grey and white with occasional pops of red, neon orange and magenta. Like its predecessor Kawakubo, BLINDNESS knows when it comes to fashion, it doesn’t have to follow the rules.
