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Korean Munsoo Kwon makes strong Milan debut
Munsoo Kwon has proven himself a surprise package at Milan fashion week for men. The 37-year-old South Korean designer did not disappoint the public showing for the first time in Milan, thanks to the support of Giorgio Armani and his prestigious theatre, a mastered collection highlighting the art of material and cut as well as overall style.
A natural elegance of lightness and fluidity came with each of Kwon's looks, the designer subtly revisiting the classic men's wardrobe and playing with proportions, lengths and details.
Case in point, the traditional dark banker suits in fine stripes with roomy trousers, a collarless shirt in the same fabric with a plunging V neckline and an unstructured jacket or large coat. The collection also proposed more sporty looks, including a khaki jacket, camouflage shorts and a multi-coloured tracksuit in parachute cloth.
Silhouettes were exaggerated with maxi trench lengths hitting the feet and Kimono-esque jackets, the sleeves split at the wrist to allow for free movement. In the same style, suit jackets had splits down the sides and volumes were oversized to offer maximum comfort and give a nonchalance to certain looks.
Sleeveless knits sat under slouchy sweaters in big stripes; a cape or a transparent jacket in plexiglass providing a visual of the playful striped knits.
"Research is the most important aspect for me, where I choose the inspirations behind the collection's story and concept," Kwon told FashionNetwork.com, adding that his varied looks for spring/summer 2018 showcased a youthful individuality seen nowadays.
Kwon took inspiration for the YOLO (You Only Live Once) movement, a social trend that has succeeded the Bobo and Yuppie in recent years, promoting the idea of comfortable fashion, which is designed above all to give pleasure.
Kwon isn't new to the fashion scene, given the Asian designer launched his menswear label in 2011 with his autumn/winter 2012 collection. He was a finalist of Woolmark Prize 2015-16, after winning the regional final for Asia in the men's category, and was before that selected as an emerging talent for The Latest Fashion Buzz at Pitti Uomo in January 2014.
Educated in the US at the Academy of Art University's School of Fashion in San Francisco, Kwon went on the work under Robert Geller, Helmut Lang and Thom Browne, before he was promoted to work with American designer Andrew Buckler.
The death of his grandmother saw his return to Seoul, where he decided to start his own label. Munsoo Kwon is distributed across 30 multi-brand retailers in Asia, mostly in South Korea.
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