In the Grand Gallery of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Woo Young Mi celebrated the 20th anniversary of the launch of her brand Wooyoungmi. This was an opportunity for the South Korean designer to give a new contemporary look at the founding memories and first creations of Wooyoungmi from the early 2000s.
When the brand moved to its new headquarters in Seoul last spring, Woo Young Mi found many similarities between the looks of the early 2000s and the way younger generations dress today in her archives. Fueled by nostalgia, especially the Y2K movement, the collection was a tribute to that era, with its brutal color and minimalism, its mix of Britpop and hip-hop dressing and nascent appetite for noughties bling.
On the runway, this translated into roomy cuts, oversized proportions and splashes of bright color. Pants, especially cargo or pleated pants, had wide legs and long hems, paired with loose double-breasted jackets or longer single-breasted lapel jackets; denim jeans and shorts – or rather cotton-blend fabric – had the same construction, ready to skateboard down the road. And, in contrast, all these loose-fitting pieces were sometimes paired with tight, sheer shirts or t-shirts, or shrunken knits and cardigans.
The bling bling style favored by the Y2K movement was also to be found in glittering “diamond” jewelry, with many necklaces, belts, chunky rings, bracelets and belly chains made of shiny crystal.
©Wooyoungmi