During the post-war economic boom of Japan in the 1980s, a new musical genre evolved. City Pop was an amalgamation of many western musical styles. With it a dress-style evolved, one which mixed New Wave references from the UK with classic Americana in a colourful style. It’s back to this look that the Creative Director Katie Chung travelled today for her SS20 menswear show for Wooyoungmi.
The line-out, set next to the Seine, of hazy palm tree print shirts and heritage-check trousers and huge-shoulder jackets will speak directly to the designers’ fashion fans. Their understanding of what customers want now is why this South Korean label has such a global resonance. The chocolate ciré shorts worn with a picture-print red hoody (nice touch with the hiking rope pull) and built-up strappy sandals, and any of the ombré bleach denim pieces, have the kind of “add to cart” energy that keeps her Gen Z-devotees shopping. Retailers will invest in the brand’s cross-bags with superimposed sunshine scene. This bag-style has cracked it. Anything worn cross-body has caught the imagination of a whole generation of young male shoppers and this is next gen shopping.
Photographs by Jason Lloyd-Evans
