Since launching in 2002, the men's Ready-to-Wear brand Wooyoungmi has been a real highlight of Paris Fashion Week. Combining traditional and avant-garde styles, the Korean label draws inspiration from art and architecture to bring us a contemporary menswear collection with sporty accents. Shirt collars are neatly folded like origami and t-shirts feature an array of graphic prints including checks, stripes and wavy lines. And as for the cuts, the tailoring is elegantly geometric to ensure an entirely androgynous silhouette. The Korean designer, Young-mi Woo, began studying fashion at Seoul University in 1978. Just five years later in 1983, she gained significant recognition by winning the Osaka International Fashion Award. In 1988, she founded the menswear label, Solid Homme. A pioneer of the genre at the time, Young-mi Woo soon became known as the purveyor of a minimalist and chic aesthetic, using high-quality materials. In 2002, she launched Wooyoungmi to offer a new, global and more design-focused concept. As the capital of the fashion world, Paris immediately stood out as the obvious place to base this new brand. With a more youthful, street vibe, it didn't take the brand long to find its tribe.
In 2014, Young-mi Woo appointed her daughter, Katie Chung, as Co-Creative Director. Halfway between Paris and Seoul, where the label's two creative studios are based, the duo design pieces with bold finishes, praised for their great sense of detail.
