Borderless, ambiguous and eccentric: those were the three words Juun.J offered up ahead of his fall collection.
Through a translator, the South Korean designer said he’d started the season intent on dismantling all the delimitations within fashion such as gender, what kind of fabric is suitable for which usage and even blur the distinction between ready-to-wear and couture.
Having recently taken a more casual route in recent seasons, tailoring was an area he wanted to explore again.
He moved on to exploring the dichotomy between grungy and slick. Here he turned rumpled and worn denim into chiseled suits or teased bleached and spray-painted plaits into ballooning miniskirts.
It was the focus of the opening section of his show, in which he offered classics such as double-breasted suits, biker jackets and tailored wide-leg trousers that were pared back to their simplest expression. Playing on matte and glossy textures made them look sophisticated yet sleek.
Throughout, silhouettes were stretched to surreal proportions, relying on exaggerated shoulder lines and abbreviated outermost layers. Giant overcoats, oversize furs and hoodies cut from obviously buttery leather added to the outlandish impression.
Great ideas abounded but the array failed to truly gel into a cohesive whole. His cast came out for a final turn all dressed in identical longline black velvet suits. Beautifully executed as they were, their uniformity felt like Juun.J had pruned so far back that he too was left on the cutting room floor.
