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`Wonderful, K-fashion,` says legendary fashion icon Fern Mallis

`Wonderful, K-fashion,` says legendary fashion icon Fern Mallis

Posted February. 16, 2015 08:07,   

한국어

“Korean fashion designers are adventurous, modern and young. They are ahead of the curve, subtle, yet full of energy.”

Fern Mallis, former executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) who is considered one of the “living legends” in New York’s fashion industry, has highly recognized Korean fashion. At “Concept Korea” held at the Lincoln Center in New York, she said that she was fascinated by Korean designers as they are creative and unconventional, adding that the designers have popular appeal that can be immediately commercialized.

Credited as the creator of “New York Fashion Week” in 1993, Fern Mallis served as senior vice president of IMG Fashion, a global fashion consulting company that hosts prestigious fashion events, and is also working as global advisor for Concept Korea.

Concept Korea, held concurrently with New York Fashion Week in February and September, has been hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, and Korea Creative Content Agency (Song Sung-gak, president & CEO) since 2010 to support Korean fashion designers to enter New York fashion industry. At the 11th Concept Korea this year, Lee Joo-yeong, Lee Seung-hui and Goh Tae-yong who won the opportunity by 10 chances to one showcased 15 respective fall and winter collections.

“There is no more strict separation between female and male outfits given that men’s clothing, which was introduced few years back, is in the women’s outfit market for sale,” said the legendary fashion icon. “Women can even wear their boyfriends’ clothes and in this fad, Korean designers in Concept Korea are far ahead of the trend.”

This year, the wrap-up party received as much attention as the fashion show itself since the party was a business networking event where Mallis came forward as a party host, invited influential fashion celebrities and introduced them to Korean designers.

“Talented designers need to have ample opportunities to meet many buyers and fashion business experts so as to have themselves established in New York fashion industry," said Mallis. "My understanding is that Korean designers have difficulties in building this type of much-needed business networking, which motivated me to hold this event.”