While she was studying at the prestigious Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Hyein Seo’s bachelor collection appeared at the New York Fashion Week for the VFiles Made Fashion show. Following her graduation, Seo founded her eponymous label in 2014.
Seo is one of the most famous South Korean designers internationally because of the counterculture themes in her designs and the way they appeal to the youth who are transitioning from teen to adulthood.
The very year she launched her brand, Rihanna wore a black-and-white fur stole from her Fear collection to the Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2014 runway show at the Paris Fashion Week. The singer then immediately followed it up with a Hyein Seo jacket from the same collection when she performed at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards.
Seo draws inspiration from what she calls “bad girls” in popular culture. One of her collections, Lady Vengeance Fall/Winter 2016, is named after the Park Chan-wook film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and includes jackets and long coats with the words “rage”, “provoke”, “sinner” and “punishment” — themes of the film — printed on them. Then there is the Final Boss Fall/Winter 2017 collection which used motifs based on the Cheongsam (or qipao) dress of video game character Chun Li from Street Fighter series and Wong Kar Wai’s film 2046.
The uniqueness of her designs, such as the garter belt bag which can hold cigarettes or the vinyl biker pants and cut-out spandex tops, have earned her a “tough girl” image. The label itself is unisex, featuring items like oversized hoodies, baggy pants, crop tops and miniskirts, and has the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Bella Hadid and G-Dragon among its patrons.
Her most recent collections are White Noise Spring/Summer 2019 and Save Yourself Fall/Winter 2019, aimed at the savviness of the contemporary youth of Seoul. The Fall/Winter 2020 collection boasts technical designs in a monochrome palette comprising hooded pilot bomber jackets, lengthened parkas, cropped windbreakers and more.
