I had been well aware that Seoul Collection Spring and Summer 09 was fast approaching but didn’t really find myself interested in spending an entire exhausting day running from one show to the next like I did last March. On Friday night my friend Joanne Jiwon Kim sent me a text inviting me to a few of the men’s wear shows on Sunday. Joanne is finishing her Masters in Economics at the moment and also works for Vogue Korea and Uniqlo Japan (a fashion house). I met her through Ha Sang Beg (that famous designer guy) at the Justice concert several months ago. I met up with her and two of her friends (who work for Dolce and Gabbana in Gangnam) at the Exhibition Center.
The four of us chatted as we waited in the public line. Joanne was a bit perturbed as she usually gets VIP press pass tickets for these sorts of events. She called our mutual friend Chad who found us in line and took us out of the ordinary line and into the more fabulous VIP industry only line. He handed us press passes and we hung them around our necks as we snaked our way to the front of the line, past the guards (its amazing how kind security guards are when you flash a pass) and onto the runway. Chad has done a bit of modeling in Seoul with various local designers but he had landed himself a job this time around as a fashion photographer for one of Korea’s leading magazines. With my press pass hanging around my neck I stood directly in front of the runway as models stopped inches away from my camera to pose for the paparazzi. The show was running a bit late. The runway coordinator was working with the designer (Lee Ju Young) to organize the order of models on the stage. The models were dressed in their street cloths and would walk along the runway holding the pieces they would be wearing for the actual show. The coordinator franticly flipped through a massive book of models wearing their outfits, something like a Colour Your World paint swatch.
Moments later the room filled with the wealthy and well to do. The VIP seats soon filled up to the left of the stage. In the center of the runway a famous Korean alternative band jammed on their guitars and drums while the models continued across the carpet looking as fantastically bitter as ever. A few moments later a large crowd formed around a few famous Korean television celebrities who were being interviewed in their seats. Moments later the general public arrived in the standing room only section at the top of the bleachers. Chad, Joanne and I sat in our Press seats right off the runway. My heart raced as the lights dimmed and the shows electricity began to unravel before our eyes.
