Skaters, Shownu and More at Concept Korea: FW24

February 16, 2024

Concept Korea returned to NYFW with a presentation including collections from MMAM, CHARM’S, and KIMMY J. K-pop star and icon Shownu opened and introduced the first look of each selection. The collections were dynamic and intriguing, boasting playful elements that kept the audience on their toes. MMAM opened with an array of curious and elegant designs infused with playfully edgy graffiti detailing. CHARM'S took the audience on a journey into the depths of a dark dystopian future with their striking all-black looks that were unforgettable to say the least. Kimmy J. closed the show with a more youthful take having skaters glide down the runway before unveiling designs that were both fresh and winter-ready, capturing the essence of street style with a cozy twist.

Check out our interview and get an exclusive look behind-the-scenes below.

By Sarah Hersom
Photography Nikki Burnett

Looking back at the internal developments since last season's showcase, what did you do differently in terms of design?

MMAM— A variety of materials that were not used last season, such as 100 wool and silk chiffon, were used harmoniously. We also used sustainable quilting padding. This season, the concept was further strengthened for brand identity. We developed new fabrics to express the minimalism of the 90s with a focus on doodle drawing.

CHARM'S— We have further explored captivating outfits and unique details through curves and straight lines.

KIMMY J— Last season, we developed designs focusing on looks for festivals or special holidays that escape everyday life, but this time, we focused on comfort, practicality, and functionality as travel looks that can be taken right out of everyday life. If you look closely at our looks, you will find that there are many design elements within them. It might be fun to see the hidden functionality.

MMAM

Drawing inspiration from the minimalist aesthetic of her '90s childhood, Park Hyun, MMAM's designer, reimagines traditional pieces like raincoats, trench coats, and blazers. Graffiti doodles breathe new life into classic silhouettes, both elegant and airy with a playful charm.

What message do you want your design to convey on the New York fashion stage?

MMAM— When I think about my childhood in the '90s, I remember the time when I couldn't wait to grow up and become a great adult. Quail luxury minimalism; we reinterpreted the minimalism of the 90s to add brand identity and value.

CHARM’S— This collection was inspired from the verse, "We loved the stars so much that we are no longer afraid of the night," and focused on encapsulating the challenging energy that is directed towards a goal, through the music, the image of the models and styling, in line with the concept.

KIMMY J— Everyone has the right to be beautiful. Our clothes are beautiful no matter who wears them. With delicate production and styling, the density and details of the look come to life no matter who wears it. That's why our collection is presented through models of different body types and ethnicities.

CHARM'S

MMAM's light and breezy feel flowed seamless into CHARM's contrasting dark and dystopian ambiance. CHARM'S design approach is consumer-centric, with a focus on crafting fun and innovative pieces that instill wearers with confidence and grace; the looks were fearless and futuristic.

We loved the stars so much that we were no longer afraid of the dark.

The show had a lot of statement pieces. What piece of work means the most to you and why?

MMAM— The first signature look, our brand is inspired by unconscious behavior and designs. We are evolving every season, but this season's first look is the most updated version of our brand's long-standing signature.

CHARM’S— The glossy cropped jacket ensemble embodies the concept of moving towards the goal, reflecting the evolution of this season's design elements most effectively.

KIMMY J— I think the clothes worn by Shownu and the male model right in front of him are the most meaningful. I think this is an outfit that was carefully created by wearing several similar outfits and considering the most important aspects of practicality, detail, and design. Suitable for hiking and other activities, the outerwear function was applied to the bottoms to provide added warmth with a luxurious mood. Laptop storage space behind the back where you can separate and store important belongings such as cell phone or AirPod payment method.

KIMMY J

The final part of the show caught the audience by surprise; two skaters in puffer jackets rolled down the runway for the opening of Kimmy J's showcase. Kimmy J.'s collection exuded an icy-cool and refreshing vibe, with headphones, legwarmers, fuzzy and cozy materials, ear warmers, and winter accessories intertwined with puffer jackets and streetwear attire.

How would you summarize the show?

MMAM— When I think about my childhood in the 90s, I remember the time when I couldn't wait to grow up and become a great adult. Am I now the adult I thought I would be? I hope everyone becomes the wonderful adult I dreamed of back then.

CHARM'S— I wanted to convey a sense of speed, and I feel like we achieved that with sharp features and hair that appeared to be running.

KIMMY J— One word: traveler. We hope people will think of traveling while wearing our clothes, whether in the city or anywhere else. Both a mental journey and a physical journey.

Fashion

Happy 424 Day!

Simon Rasmussen — What's going on?

Guillermo Andrade — Right now we're just setting everything up.

So, what are you doing, is it a party?

Well, I kind of felt universally forced, right? Because 4/24/24, I was just like, I don’t really have a choice here. The stars also just kind of aligned, so to be honest, I got this settlement that came with a bunch of clothes so I had this idea to give back to the kids who fuck with us by allowing them to buy our shit first. Not handing stuff out for free, but to do it in a way where we could skip the middleman of the industry, so to speak, and not allow clothes to disappear into the abyss of Farfetch or whatever else. So what we’re going to do is a sort of warehouse sale, which we’ve never done before so that was really exciting for me. I didn’t want to do just another warehouse sale, so it’s like a sample sale turns rager. We teamed up with Adidas and a couple of other sponsors, then drinks, DJs, and a performance.

Sick, I love it.

Yeah. My dream sample sale. Also, it’s not just hoodies and t-shirts here in there, it’s proper collections from the past three seasons. I’m also not picking and choosing, trying to make it accessible, like this was the only way I could afford to buy shit when I was a kid, bro. Sample sales were the thing I looked forward to the most.

I feel you. In New York, there's the annual CDG sale, which is when I used to cop all my CDG.

The only time I could afford Rick. I flew to New York once for a Rick sample sale and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I got invited. And it was mental. I still have those pieces. I will never sell them. Not even because I got 'em cheap. It was also just really fun. Even on the flight to New York, I was like, I can't believe I'm going to New York for a sample sale, what a fucking loser I am. But it was like the adult version of when I was a kid and I was like, Wow, I can't believe I'm 20-something and I'm still doing the thing I was doing in high school. So I hope we can create moments like that for kids here in LA.

Yeah. I love that. It’s important to connect with them; they’re essentially creating the brand. If you don't have them, good luck.

I mean, yeah. Fuck, bro. It's cool that we've been around for this long. I mean, it got a little rocky there for a second I think, for all of us. So coming out of it, tomorrow is a celebration. And it’s like an odd day of the week. It's a Wednesday, super random. And now that we've set it up, the homies are all like, Yo, I'm coming. I'm coming. Let me jump on stage, let me do this, and that's really what it's always been about. It's not some other strategy to get likes on the internet.

That’s how the best things happen, you just couldn’t help yourself. It was intuitive.

Yeah, it all came together in a really nice way.

Would you say that’s how 424 started as well? I remember we met in like 2010 on Fairfax and I was visiting with Rasmus…

Oh bro, it’s probably the time when I started the branch… do you remember Cecilia from Black Dakini? She’s the one that introduced me to CIFF and honestly, I didn’t even care what she was doing, I was just like, I’m coming, I’ll go with you. She said she’d give me half of her booth and I said, Awesome count me in. At the time, I had just gotten my green card and I wasn't allowed to ever leave America, so Copenhagen was one of the first cities I went to when I could finally travel. I mean, you see what we did at CIFF bro? It became our fucking hub for half a decade.

That was a moment for sure.

I remember the first account I got was Antonioli, and he came super gangster, being like, You're going to sell me these clothes. And I was like, bro, I didn't come to sell clothes. I'm just kind of catching a vibe with my homie and I made these things. And he's like, No, you're going to sell it to me. And then I was like, Oh my god that’s Claudio Antonioli. So then I went home, I googled wholesale, and figured that shit out. [laughs]

[Laughs]

Like you said, I couldn't help myself, but I didn't just make t-shirts and hoodies either. I was really on my Rick wave, so I made my version of the Rick things. It was that meets like The Boondock Saints, because I'm still a little bit of a Cali bro, sort of rock kid, but not really. I like hip-hop, but I like the way the rock stars look. I like the contrast. I thought it was cool. After that, I just never stopped.

It was clear to me when I first met you that you were onto your own thing in LA. It made a lot of sense, and it was so cool. It was before 424 was its own brand; you just had the store and this really cool curation.

It was all my shit, bro. I was very, very invested in sharing all of these things that I was finding from all over the world, like Astrid Anderson. She was one of those designers at the time, so important to 424. The connection to Copenhagen specifically for me was huge. I had a big fan base there. It was incredible. And then here in LA, we were sharing the things that we were a part of and finding; it was still the early days of Fear of God, Rhude, Martine Rose. A lot of these brands, we were the first store to ever sell it — we were selling Hood By Air on the West Coast.

You had Rick as well, I remember.

Oh yeah. It took me a long time. But I got Rick, bro. By the time I had to close the store on Fairfax, I already had a Raf Simons account. I had reached my ultimate dream. It was really all the stuff I wanted to wear at the time. It was dope. The best of the best.

We had an office magazine newsstand in there as well.

Oh yeah, we did! I came to visit the one you had, and I was like, Yo, I got to bring this whole fucking thing over here. But yeah, in LA, after two days people forget you exist, but everyone’s been super supportive. We’re all 10 years older now. We've been around forever at this point.

It can be dangerous to take those breaks when you’re figuring shit out, but there’s something very genuine to this comeback you’re having.

Thank you, thank you. We’ve been in and out of those fucking showrooms in Paris for long enough. I've been in and out of these factories for the past 10 years of my life. We had to figure something out. And I think now really diving in, being in Italy full time and being there to develop these products over time, I think that the whole thing just really shows the suppliers respect you more. The people who are making your goods understand why you're making them. And I think now I finally got to the place where I'm not making Italian things, I’m making my clothes, I'm making Cali-centric shit, but with that European technicality and execution. With this Fall / Winter collection, it clicked.

So what’s the vision for the next year? What are you manifesting?

I'm just fucking relentless, bro. This is the way I want to live my life. Now that we are more aligned, more prepared, and have more experience, moving forward it is just more of becoming a fully functioning company that can provide and create opportunities for all of the people around me. We’ve been operating just on instinct for a long time.

Sustaining a business is scary, trust me I know.

Scary as fuck, dog. I just opened a store next to Bottega, bro, and it’s like what am I even doing? You have to just believe in the thing you're doing more than anybody else.

100%, and it seems like that’s what you’re doing.

And fashion’s kind of a competitive sport, as much as people don’t think it is. We can reach a certain level without losing ourselves. My biggest ambition at the moment is to create something that, when you leave one of our neighbors you come into our place you don’t feel that the level has been sacrificed at all. And it’s not easy.

Definitely. I wish I could be there tomorrow.

Thank you, bro. 10 years now. You’ve always shown me so much love. We have to do a booth or have the office part of the next 424 day. Shit let’s do a 424 day in New York.

That would be sick. Let's do it. I'm here. Let’s catch up soon.

Next season’s right around the corner so I’ll see you in Paris.

Yes, see you in Paris and Happy 424 day!

Fashion

Luis De Javier's Puta Takeover

April 25, 2024

Last night with Luis De Javier, guests were overheard confirming this generation's most vital conundrum: “If I’m cunt, I can still be pussy.” “And if you’re pussy, you can still be cunt.” This sentiment echoed throughout the night as we celebrated De Javier’s first-ever streetwear collection, "Puta". We spent seven hours at Ella Funt at a dinner turned party that only he could’ve thrown (co-hosted by emcee). It was too dark for even the most aspiring-to-look-mysterious of us to wear sunglasses inside. Under the semi-oppressive flash of party photographers, we danced as much as the space would allow, drank tequila out of teacups and kissed each other on the cheeks with a vaguely European intimacy. “I’m doing streetwear!” De Javier could be heard exclaiming — whether it be in disbelief or excitement, we couldn’t tell you.

Words and photos by Izzy Capulong

The Spanish-born London-based designer has been well-loved for his genderless tailoring, latex mastery, and overall message of empowerment. Dressing everyone from ravers to A-listers, De Javier’s latest drop pushes his design repertoire to a new level. “While designing for my celebrity clientele and showcasing my creations on the runway has always been my dream,” he notes, “It’s equally important to me that my brand resonates with a wider, more diverse audience.” While this collection’s medium has shifted from corsets to sweatshirts, the classic LDJ avant-garde sensibilities remain. Bikinis and booty shorts are shamelessly emblazoned with “PUTA,” blazers are constructed with ample shoulder padding, and I had my eye on the cheekily-named “Faguette Bag.”

The Puta collection will be available exclusively on emcee.

Fashion

Nadia Lee Cohen Celebrates Paris Texas Launch at the Chateau

To celebrate the launch, Cohen and founder and creative director of Paris Texas, Annamaria Brivio hosted an intimate dinner at the Chateau Marmont pictured below. Arman Naféei entertained guests throughout the evening with a special playlist he curated for the occasion.