“We’ve been imagining the future for so long, but now we’re living it,” creative director Katie Chung said after the Wooyoungmi show. “There is no reason to fantasize about silver space suits and crazy shapes: My idea of the future is about function, about keeping the traditional beauty of the dress while changing the fabrics.” A giant makeshift moon was sitting right in the middle of today’s runway, the futuristic tingle of the setup highlighted by the blatant contrast with the very old-school Parisian splendor of the venue, the Salon Imperial at the Intercontinental Hotel. The melancholic score, composed by Stu Sibley, made the rest: Wooyoungmi’s take on futurism was all about nostalgia of what’s to happen, not excitement for the unknown.
The collection, rather aptly, was a precise lineup of well-defined shapes. The duster coat, the lean suit, and the blouson were offered in endless variations of washes and in a myriad of crinkled fabrics, not a print in sight. Colors were pale and organic, growing in intensity from dusty gray to deep charcoal. It all oozed an air of assured calm and pensive detachment, while fabric innovation made sure clothes could be lived in and used intensely. On a sidenote, things got a bit repetitive quite soon. A shorter show would have made the message more effective.
