PARTsPARTs IMSEONOC Fall 2016 – Seoul Fashion Week

The PARTsPARTs IMSEONOC Fall 2016 show closed Seoul Fashion Week, taking place outdoors outside the label’s showroom in Buam-dong. (photo by Ryan Bentley for Meniscus Magazine)

Designer IMSEONOC of PARTsPARTs had the honor of closing out the Seoul Fashion Week Fall 2016 collections with a very lively but chaotic outdoor show in the Buam-dong commercial district. The models, draped in trademark neoprene, sashayed down the makeshift runway clogging the sidewalks and streets outside the label’s showroom as John Lennon’s “Imagine” blared through speakers on a continuous loop.

Yet, the PARTsPARTs Fall/Winter 2016 line ironically could have done with a bit more imagination during the design stage. Although the designer is well-known for her predilection for using only neoprene – and espousing a “0% Waste” philosophy when designing and manufacturing her line every season – nothing stood out. The neoprene material lent a futuristic sheen to a majority of the collection, but it might come as no surprise that these self-imposed limitations have led the designer towards a creative dead end. Opting for a cliché color palette of whites, blacks, a smattering of reds, and blue, this offering of drab and uninspired outfits attempted to provide a season’s worth of casual, formal and streetwear. The designs offer very little variation, and as for the patterns on the fabric, the minimalist aesthetic does it no favors.

PARTsPARTs may pride itself on its ecological mission statement and lean heavy on being an “artistic” label, but from what I saw of their Fall/Winter line this year, this label needs to stop resting on its laurels and go back to the designing board.

Photos: PARTsPARTs IMSEONOC Fall 2016 – Seoul Fashion Week
all photos by Ryan Bentley for Meniscus Magazine