Fashion Universe: Highlighting fashion from all over the world, one designer at a time.

 Vision

The purpose of this blog is to cover fashion from all over the world, along with highlighting designers/business owners from specific countries and their creations we will be exhibiting each week. With that being said, this blog not only intends to showcase fashion from different countries but also expose our viewers to other cultures and art on a more universal scale. It's also intended to support these global fashion designers by examining their clothing and websites that showcase their creative endeavors and outfits.  

      

By Denisse, Kim, and Carina   

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South Korea Spotlight

October 31, 2022

Minju Kim

About - MINJU KIM

by Kimberly Thai

Born and traded from the famous Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp Minju Kim, a Korean fashion designer from Seoul, South Korea began to showcase her brand, MINJUKIM in London in 2015, after winning the H&M Awards back in 2013 and became a semi-finalist in the LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers. After launching her brand, she also designed outfits for BTS World Tour in 2019. In 2020, one of her most significant achievements was being the first winner of Netflix's Next in Fashion where her bright, fun, and youthful designs with a twist of avant-garde haute couture bring joy and excitement to everyone in the room. Since then, she had gained a lot more support and exposure to her brand throughout the world than she ever did before, starting with only just 10k to 600k followers on her Instagram platform! During her interview with Park Sun-Young in VisitKorea, she talks about some of the challenges she faced in "Next in Fashion" one, in particular, is the lingerie challenge where she was almost eliminated. As we all may know when it comes to lingerie, the first word that comes to mind is "sexy" which is something out of Minju's range of style because most of her designs don't particularly show a lot of skin. Her concept of lingerie is viewed to be something that is "elegant, beautiful, with lots of pretty lace....like the goddess Venus" when she was teamed up with another designer contestant Angel at the time. But because the runway involved flames and fire, their lingerie designs didn't fit with the setting, and the fact that the layers of lace overwhelmed the models. Despite the ups and downs, she remained true to her creative concepts throughout the series and after in each of her collections. As Minju stated "it's all about the concept. They embody my ideas. Every season, I make concept drawings. And based on these drawings, we choose the season's colors, make digital prints and things like that." 

About. MINJUKIM. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2022, from https://www.minjukim.co/en/about

YouTube. (2020). [Next in K-Story] "Next in Fashion" the story of winner Minju Kim. YouTube. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neNW6SMaMis.

Spring/Summer 2022: BARI Collection

1) This off-white suit set not only looks professional but also brings out the youthfulness in the flowing, oversized trousers.

2) The colors and the digitally printed design of the fabric truly work well together in the concept of being cute and fun. 

3) The choice of making a "baby doll" silhouette emphasizes youthfulness but makes it fashionably comfortable for young women to wear anytime or for any occasion.

4) For this look, Minju is now leaning on the sophisticated style in the dress while still retaining the cute, youthful design elements with the puffy bishop sleeves, "scallop" shaped collar, and the giant bow at the back.

5) Here you see that she uses the same printed fabric from the second look but designed another suit/skirt set that I can see being worn by young teens and women, whether it's worn in a set or separately. 

6) For this look, Minju has now used the same blazer jacket pattern and skirt from previous designs for the all-black attire to create another alternative for a simple, feminine professional outfit or versatile pieces for everyday wear.

7) In this next look, the use of puffy sleeves and a "scallop" shaped collar is used once again but instead, the silhouette of the dress is more feminine and youthful by slightly accentuating the waistline.

8) For the next dress, the way how the sheer printed organza is designed gives off a more playful and cheerful look in terms of the puffiness and flowing shape and the choice of color. 

9) Here, the sheer printed organza is used again in a different color and made in a shirt style to create the option of wearing it as a dress or paired with jeans for a cute casual style.

10) For the last dress, the "baby doll" silhouette and choice of color can be seen as a seasonal style perfect for the summer which I can see being worn again over time.  

(All images above can be found on Minju Kim's website, MINJUKIM - BARI Collection)

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In conclusion, as illustrated in the images of Minju Kim's BARI Collection, each of her designs is fun and youthful with the use of bright colors, a mix of form-fitted/boxy silhouettes, and unique digital prints. To Minju, the brand MINJUKIM represents herself for who she really is, presenting herself as an innovatively creative, outgoing, powerful artist, and she certainly proves it through her concept ideas in every collection she has made for the past years and now. Be sure to stay tuned for next week's upcoming blog as we continue to explore more fashion designers around the world!

Next Week's Spotlight: Ireland