Wooyoungmi Men’s Spring 2020
Wooyoungmi creative director Katie Chung often references music in the creation of her fashion collections, and spring 2020 was no different. This season, she took a cue from Japan’s City Pop urban pop music born in the Seventies.
“That’s when Japan had a lot of big economic growth,” she explained backstage after the show. “During that time a lot of Western culture came in, [and the Japanese] admired Western things.”
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At that time, Western-influenced City Pop had a following among the older set, but nowadays in Asia the genre is having a revival among younger people. “It’s the cool thing,” Chung said. “The whole [fashion] story is about that.
“City Pop is about a beach in the city,” continued the designer. (Think Los Angeles or Miami lifestyles.)
To wit, palm tree motifs sprouted up in the collection, on Hawaiian shirts of various hues, from yellow to green and red. These were worn with an urban twist, paired with the likes of sartorial black jackets and shorts or over a light-blue Oxford shirt.
“It’s a quite colorful season,” said Chung, adding that’s because posters for City Pop were multihued — “quite David Hockney-style.”
Tailored silhouettes were generally long and slim, with garments layered. “[Spring 2020] is a modern guy playing a Mariya Takeuchi vinyl,” the show notes read. “The collection is a reimagined City Pop scene, with all the eccentric cool of modern Asia street style.”
Through Wooyoungmi’s lens, that includes easy-to-wear utility shorts and cargo pants with pockets and zip details, striped rainbow knits, acid dip-dyed denims and sharp jackets. The collection was accessorized by jewelry done in collaboration with Portrait Report.
Launch Gallery: Wooyoungmi Men's Spring 2020
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