The creation of random identities lay at the heart of Rokh’s Spring/Summer 2022 collection. Designer Rok Hwang wanted to study different garments and styles, each serving a specific purpose in life, then clash them all together to form a new language and wardrobe for women. The name of this collection, “White Rabbit”, described this pursuit: of mixing many random details and ideas – points without any connection – and only loosely following the guidelines of womenswear. It felt a bit like chasing Lewis Carroll’s White Rabbit down the rabbit hole, not knowing where it would lead us.
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Rokh’s random study of identity codes was exemplified by a particular crafting method. Before Hwang mixed anything, he reduced a garment to its core structure, decoding all of its functionalities, then transferred those codes and details onto another garment’s shape and form.
This season, he explored the practical utility jacket and the formal evening gown. In decoding the jacket, Hwang found the heavy double-stitching and fell stitching and internal fusing characteristic to workwear; patch pockets, expandable pockets, and flap pockets, with inner straps to bear weight. Hwang then took those functions and reshaped and repurposed them onto the sensual and raw form of the evening gown. He studied the cut-outs, draped both soft and sturdy fabrics across the body; through this ongoing study of construction, he arrived at an image of youthful sensuality.
Here, a glamorous ’90s evening gown was cut asymmetrically into a half-cropped skirt with utilitarian patch pockets. A classic workman’s jacket, also covered in pockets, became a fluid evening skirt, paired with a corset top with straps falling elegantly off both shoulders. In turn, through careful incisions, a soft candy pink skirt with raw seams bore the motifs of a utility jacket.
Silk satin was the core of this season. Hwang used silk to highlight the imbalance between formal materials and functional shapes. Inversely, heavy cotton gabardine with a twill finish was used to create voluptuous eveningwear. There were soft sun-bleached pastels and full-feathered and satin frocks covered in utilitarian stitching. He also wanted to use PVC with a glossy finish to emphasize this idea of youthful sensuality. It evoked memories of the designer at Central Saint Martins.
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