Winter can be framed as an annoyance or a wonderland. For the fall 2026 collection, Wooyoungmi took the latter view.
Woo looked to recapture elegance, filtering it through the ritual of winter travel. Her point of departure was the turn of the 20th century, when the arrival of South Korea’s first Gyeongin railway transformed travel into a special occasion, and journeys demanded ceremony.
The opening looks set the tone with sweeping coats and sculptural outerwear that nodded to Edwardian mores, including high collars and buttoned-up formality.
But Woo understands that as much as we might want to dress up for travel, the modern consumer demands comfort. She addressed that conundrum through fabrication. Throughout, she walked a fine line between past and present, pairing classic silhouettes such as pencil skirts and Chesterfield coats with contemporary materials created with stretch while the clothes kept their posture-inducing lines.
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Velvet tailoring and faux astrakhan skirts, coats and trims added texture throughout, while parkas were reversible with technical material on one side and lush faux fur on the other. That duality spoke to the modern need for ease, while hiking boots paired with tailored suits and oversize doctor-style bags reinforced the codes of movement.
Korean cultural references were woven throughout, literally. Sweaters borrowed the geometry and style of Nordic knitwear, only to reveal that they were dancheong motifs from Korean temple decoration. Up close a bespoke print consisted of clothing items such as beoseon socks and brimmed gats — both parts of the traditional hanbok — as well as landmark mountains and pagodas in miniature, which was used on trenchcoats.
The infusion of these motifs throughout signaled Woo’s increasing ease with highlighting her heritage after more than two decades in Paris, particularly as Korean pop culture has risen in popularity throughout the world.
The soundtrack was a fitting and moody mashup of wind, rain and steam engine chuffs interspersed with Korean folk songs and chants tweaked to sound almost Gregorian that Woo created with AI, proving that we are entering a brave new world.
Now more grounded in her identity, Woo proposes elegance as a form of courtesy, not a way of showing off.
