Wooyoungmi SS10

Like a painter obsessing over his art - adding details and perfecting his creation - Korean designer Wooyoungmi had a seemingly similar relation to her spring summer collection, which was showed in the beautiful Palais de Tokyo. Fittingly the collection was titled The Painter and accompanied by a film showing the designer in question painting dots.

But this was not clothes to wear when painting; they were far too nice for that! So instead the connection was made through over sized pockets and an army of zips to control them, enabling the wearer easy access to a brush or napkin. The fabric covering elbows, shoulders and knees were often sliced and diced to make movement easier. Wooyoungmi staple pieces – waistcoats and trench coats – featured throughout, but had also undergone the deconstructed procedure.

Elegantly put together by stylist Andrej Skok, the Paris-based designer used pale pink and tones of nude and peach, contrasted with darker colours like blue, grey and brown. Sometimes these colours were combined as a few shorts and trousers were two-toned. There was an overall focus on arms and legs, but also the accessories impressed, especially the wooden sunglasses, rolled-up bags and garden inspired gloves. Another stellar showing from Wooyoungmi!

Wooyoungmi SS09

All things beautiful must come to an end, but what an end it was. Technically, Agnés B finished off Paris Menswear week, but Wooyoungmi was just behind. Or before, depending on how you see it. No matter where you stand on the issue of chronological importance, the Paris based South Korean showed off a safe and sound collection on a hot Sunday evening in an exceptional venue; the Louvre Carousel.

Wooyoungmi has always worked hard at modernising traditional tailoring and Blur Poem, her SS09 outing, was no exception. This time around, she fused sportswear with formal tailoring and considering how much highflying designers rely on sportswear (and vice versa) for money these days, she might very well be on to something. Don’t get me wrong, the collection was no revolution; sport influenced collections are all over the place but what made this special was how far she took it.

Wooyoungmi's plastic boots

Classically formal pieces, like suits, trench coats, pleaded trousers and shirts all came in plastic, sometimes see-through fabric. It was truly for the successful and futuristic businessman of the 21st century. The chapeau hats and high boots in plastic also caught everyone’s attention. Colour-wise, Wooyoungmi went with lots of grey and white but cleverly brought in red and orange to brighten things up.

The designer herself

Utility was key word as trousers had elastic waists and the cut-up tailoring that has become a bit of her trademark was present. But the combinations that summed up her SS09 effort was a hooded waistcoat in both artificial plastic and traditional cotton, and an outfit consisting of a black formal suit jacket, teamed with plastic shorts - perfectly balanced, wholly wearable, stylishly put together, oozing of quality and what you will wear next summer!