Fashion Meets Foreign Exchange With Genesis House and the CFDA

There's no denying that, in the last decade, there's been a notable tectonic shift, with the epicenter of cool moving from the eccentricity of Tokyo and the underground punk-rock scene of London to the gleaming high rises of South Korea. It's easy to forget, especially with the Technicolor fantasias that are K-pop music videos and the hazy, love-tinged lens of K-dramas, that those glass-and-steel skyscrapers look over traditional Hanok buildings and that, even today, ummas sweep the streets with traditional sorghum brooms. The sweet, metallic clinking of traditional bells ring in the air alongside the poppy beats of NewJeans's latest release. That study in contrast may be why creatives are pulled into South Korea’s orbit, and why the steady beat of what's new, now, and next has become the pulsing rhythm of Seoul's heart.

Fashion’s role in global culture makes it the perfect medium to illustrate the reach of Korea’s influence. Back in June, Genesis House and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) partnered to spotlight emerging Asian designers at New York City's Genesis House — a restaurant and experiential concept space that brings Korea to the Meatpacking District — through the CFDA | Genesis House AAPI Design + Innovation Grant. The $40,000 grant and a cultural immersion trip to Seoul were incentive to enter a five-month competition that tasks designers with creating a special collection incorporating the values and culture of not only Korea, but the Genesis brand, such as warmth, hospitality, and daring design. The collections will be shown in February 2024, with one winner receiving an additional grand prize of $60,000.

Just a few months later, in September, ahead of New York Fashion Week's Spring/Summer 2024 presentations, designers Andrew Kwon, Grace Ling, and Siying Qu and Haoran Li of Private Policy were named finalists. As they compete for the grand prize, they will receive access to a mentorship panel that includes actress Jodie Turner-Smith; designer and CFDA board vice chair Prabal Gurung; Monse designers Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim; Rachel Espersen, executive director of brand experience at Genesis; Saks Fifth Avenue's Vice President of Men's Luxury Ready-to-Wear Sandra Park; Google's Global Consumer Marketing Director Stephanie Horton; and the CFDA's CEO Steven Kolb. 

In order to truly infuse their creations with the spirit of Korea, the group traveled to Seoul last month, spending a week together and diving deep into the art, culture, history, and energy of the city. For most of the designers, it was their first visit to the South Korean capital, though Kwon, who is of Korean descent, visited the city regularly pre-COVID.

"I'm the only one that really speaks Korean in the group. So, it feels sort of heartwarming, because I'm able to sort of be that liaison when someone else isn't there to translate, to just make it feel more welcome and comfortable,” said Kwon. “It's such a proud moment in a way, too, because many, many years ago, no one would have been like, 'Oh, let's go to Korea.' Everyone would be like, ‘Tokyo or Shanghai or Beijing.’ So, this is exciting to me, because it shows that there's so much development that's happened in Korea."

In the short time since Kwon established his brand in 2020, he’s become known for his celebrity-beloved red carpet gowns (Sofia Bush, Lucy Liu, Aoki Lee Simmons, Ashley Park, and Olivia Palermo are all fans) and breathtaking bridal line (nuptials-worthy jumpsuits included).   Kwon gained a following for infusing old-school glamour with modern touches and, though it may not be obvious, his designs incorporate some Korean traditions, too. This became apparent when the designers were invited to shop for fabric at Gwangjang Market, an open-air emporium with vendors selling everything from suiting material to airy, breezy organzas (just a few paces from housewares, fresh-from-the-ocean seafood, and the nokdujeon pancakes made famous by Netflix's Street Food: Asia).

"I think with Korean traditional clothing, known as hanbok, they're super-light. Organzas and silks are so much at the forefront of materials that they use. And it is just so light [for] how big the volume actually is," Kwon shared. "I think when people see and try on my dresses or gowns or jumpsuits, everyone always comments [on] how light they are, [considering] how much structure there is in it. I've always been a big user of organzas and silks, and all the fabrics that I use for silks are really from Korea."

Ling pointed out the hanbok's continued influence on Korean style (the garment was first seen more than two centuries ago). While it's not uncommon for foreigners to dress up in ornate robes for photos, especially near Gyeongbokgung Palace, where wearing a hanbok affords visitors free admission to the grounds, Ling noticed a bit of that traditional style in everyday clothes — though it was much more subtle than full-on period K-drama cosplay.

"There's something about the silhouette and the proportion that is very Korean to me," Ling said of the city's contemporary style. "It's almost like if you were to modernize a hanbok, because there's something about the boxiness of it that is being modernized."

Ling — born and raised in Singapore — held her first New York Fashion Week runway show in  September 2023, and has already found a loyal legion of fans in Hollywood, including Jennifer Lopez and Julia Fox. Her label has made headlines for maintaining a sleek silhouette and zero-waste status. That's thanks to embracing 3-D printing and CAD in her designs, which splice the body with surgical precision to showcase swathes of skin via her signature tailoring. The designs are also accented with her trademark gleaming sculptural, biomorphic hardware.

“I think it's very interesting because, as an Asian person from Singapore, I can see that there are some similarities in terms of Asian culture across China, Korea, and Japan,” she noted of being in Korea for the first time. “There's a strong sense of community and everyone is really respectful. It seems to be the baseline, that you approach with respect. It should be the standard.” 

 Another way that the designers dove into Korean fashion culture was through visiting unique retail spaces. Haus Dosan, a retail and design mecca from the cutting-edge optical and sunglasses brand Gentle Monster (which itself uses robotic installations and large-scale video art to showcase its offerings), opened its doors early for the group. The experience was an opportunity to think about what retail spaces could mean for them as their brands grow.

Shopping tourism is huge in the city, but shopping isn't just important to visitors. With gargantuan malls dotted around Seoul as well as smaller boutiques with cult followings trending on TikTok and Instagram, finding new clothes and accessories seems akin to a national pastime. 

"I saw this really fun daughter and mother. And then the mom was dressing very much the Korean overall style, very proper. And then the daughter is dressed more like ... imagine the K-pop girl group style, and they're looking at the clothes," Qu explained of what she observed during her outings. "But I see how the mom is actually trying to understand the clothing on the racks, so that's really sweet to see. I think, at first glance, this city has a very, in a way, uniform look, very neutral tones: navy, black and white, grays, and browns. Then, I went to an area by the park and I think there are some more streetwear scenes of young people there — literally on the street — wearing clothes that I think are more influenced by the K-pop scene."

Private Policy, which works to bring genderless clothing into the mainstream with designs that are more reflective of the streets than flashbulbs and step-and-repeats, seems primed for success in a place like Seoul. Li said that he saw more people embracing a dressed-down vibe than he expected. Corporate dress seems to overtake the city from 9 to 5 before Seoul's citizens let loose. They thrive in spaces like cafés, bars, and the almost hyperrealistic Myeongdong district, the famous shopping area where locals get to shrug off their corporate uniforms and wear brighter, more fashion-forward looks that include plush charms hanging off their designer bags, beaded phone straps, fuzzy hair accessories, and covetable sneakers.

"I think from their department stores, like the Hyundai department stores, I think I see a more diverse style. Also, I went to eat last night before clubbing and I think people who are in the club dress kind of different," Li said. "That was my first Korean clubbing experience and I realized there was a lot of streetwear there, which I'm happy about."

Time spent at Genesis Suji, a huge showroom where the brand's full breadth of models was on display and available for test drives, afforded the designers a chance to be surrounded by the various colors available for each car and have real interiors and finishes at their fingertip. They were able to immerse themselves in Genesis's audacious design and progressive function, as well as feel the distinctly Korean atmosphere that filled the concrete building. It was the company’s way to give the group a chance to live and breathe its brand pillars.

"I'm really starting to see the way they treat people, like client relations, brand experience, just how elevated the experience is," Kwon said of being able to surround himself with Genesis House’s ethos all at once. "I think they have mastered what the luxury experience is."

Like Korea itself, Genesis House manages to balance past, present, and future with ease; throughout the trip, the designers tiptoed through space and time. In stark contrast to the modern sensibilities of Suji, they tried their hands at traditional weaving in Seoul's Hanok Village, a residential area with restored traditional Korean homes and businesses that date back to the 1400s. The meeting of past and future resonated with the Private Policy duo, who aim to push new ideas into the fashion conversation.

"I think fashion is about wearing a pair of pants to an event that your parents are expecting you to wear a dress or skirt. It's about a boy showing up to something wearing pink or just having a little bow," Qi said of how Private Policy balances masculine and feminine as well as Asian tradition and American fashion. "I think it's our way of rebelling. If you want to be super feminine and sexy, go ahead. But I think the choice of you expressing yourself exactly how you feel that day is so important."

Much like the merging of Eastern culture and Western sensibilities broadly — Blackpink headlining Coachella, for one; and European luxury brands opening up Seoul-exclusive experiences, like Dior's Instagram-ready café — the finalists for Genesis House and the CFDA’s grant are working to balance staying true to their identities with the forward trajectory of their brands.

“I want to have the opportunity to expand and just have that freedom of developing a space of my own,” Kwon said of what he’d do with the prize money. “So much has been what I call my own business school and my own graduate degree of trying to navigate a business and seeing what it really takes to run more of a fashion house and a fashion brand.” He currently works out of his apartment and admitted that it’s not quite the right space for women to come and browse his frothy, fantastical creations. “I think I've been so penny-pinchy with what I'm spending on, especially studio-wise and space-wise. I think I'm coming to a point now where I really need to separate the two.”

"Especially on this trip to Korea and just seeing when we were at Genesis how they do client relations and brand experience, it feels luxurious as beautiful,” he continued. “In my little corner unit, women that are going in there are spending $7,000 to $13,000 on a gown. I can serve them champagne. I can serve them fruit platters and cheese boards, but it's still my place. Now that I have expanded into evening wear, I want to build a space and a true luxurious experience outside of my apartment.”

For Qu and Li, growth means more than just expanding their line (they’re set to debut in Urban Outfitters this holiday season, so things already seem to be lining up for them on that front). In addition to feeling excited about the mentorship that comes with the competition, they’re hopeful that the winnings can help them spread their values to the wider fashion industry.

“Our brand is so new and young compared to the whole big machine. We want to make changes within sustainability, within social topics,” Qu said. “There’s so much change we want to make.”

“I just think we made so many mistakes before because we have been doing the business for seven, eight years,” Li was quick to add. “We really want to use money to hire someone, a professional, to help us finance-wise, to really help us to develop the company, to scale up everything. I think that could help us a lot. We have been doing everything hands-on by ourselves every day.”

While the designers have months to finish their lines for the final round of competition, the influence the trip will likely have was already evident as they picked up hanboks and traditional Korean embellishments to bring home. Qu and Li purchased a child’s hanbok just to examine what went into the garment’s intricate layers and details, while Kwon was drawn to the 3-D floral embroideries that were available at the local markets. There’s no telling how the vibes and history of Seoul will appear in the designer’s creations — especially with such distinct points of view from the three labels — but there’s no doubt that the creativity and innovation that have marked each line’s development will continue to shine. 

“I'm still on this path of discovering,” Kwon said, bringing the whole experience together in just one sentiment. “I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing, with the friendships and opportunities that come.”