Young, promising Korean fashion designers received the spotlight during London Fashion Week last month. Designers Choi Eudon, Jackie JS Lee, Heo Hwan, Regina Pyo and Seo Hyein participated in the 2014 A/W London Fashion Week, held from February 14 to 18 in Somerset House, London. Seo won the Designer Award in the International Fashion Showcase, coming out on top amongst the participating 150 designers from 27 countries. British media reported on the Korean designers’ collections with great interest.

The Guardian newspaper selected Choi’s collection as one of the ten most-noticeable collections at London Fashion Week. The Express, another newspaper, also focused on Jackie JS Lee and Choi Eudon in its article, “The future is bright.”

British tabloid The Evening Standard wrote that Lee’s collection is known for its sophistication and calm style. The paper also said that Lee’s collection combines extraordinary beauty and moderate elegance. It also valued her as an icon of London Fashion Week, balancing both commercial and innovative potential.




The Daily Telegraph placed a photo of Choi’s collection alongside a photo of world-famous designer Paul Smith. The daily said that Choi quickly found fans in London. It said that he reinterpreted well known themes into his collection in a fresh, wearable manner.

British local media, like Husk Magazine, also recognized Regina Pyo. They valued Pyo’s collection as showing a bold, yet feminine and elegant, beauty with modest freedom.

After debuting during London Fashion Week, Heo Hwan followed up with a catwalk show during Milan Fashion Week, which took place on February 24 in Milan, Italy.



Seo Hye-in, the recipient of the Designer Award, currently studying for her M.A. at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium, showed in her collection intense, experimental clothes inspired by horror movies. Sarah Mower, one of the award judges, praised Seo as being a highly talented artist with an excellent eye.

Important figures from across the European fashion industry visited the collections of Korean designers during the week-long fashion gala. Amongst them were U.K.-based Browns, Dover Street Market, Liberty and Selfridge, as well as other European fashion retailers, like Bon Marché, Net-a-Porter and L’Ecrereur.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr