rokh unveiled its Autumn/Winter 2020 collection today Saturday February 29th 2020 in Paris.
29 February 2020
Today is a special day. The day of my show, yes, but far above that, it is my only
little sister’s wedding day.
As my models prepare to walk down the rokh runway in Paris, my sister, clad in the
white wedding gown she always dreamt of, will walk down the aisle in Seoul.
The one event in my life that I wouldn’t miss for anything, yet of all days,
it had to fall on this one. To temper my sadness, I wanted to hold another celebration
for her here, unfolding half the world away, and as I began preparing this collection,
I spent many happy hours sifting through my childhood memories.
My sister and I are five years apart. She is grown now, about to be married,
but still feels very little to me. She was always bright, happy, and smart with such a warm heart.
When we were small, living in a caravan by a lake in Texas, we passed many days playing
in the woods and she was always somehow talking to flowers. Today I have made her a garden
filled with lots of the Erica flowers that she loved as a girl.
The collection is bursting with floral prints, as well, roses and daisies and lavender
blooming over floor-length gowns, drawn to match the size of the actual flowers
we have strewn through the Palais de Tokyo. Grown for us by farmers in Denmark,
they will be donated after the show to a local women’s charity.
When I was 10 years old, we parted for some time. I stayed in Austin with our dad as
he continued his research, and she went back to Seoul with our mom.
We reunited when I returned to Korea at age 13. Then I left again at 19 to go to school
in the U.K. and never returned for long. She stayed in Korea, went through university there. Much like our dad, she became an academic, is always dressed in smart clothing and on
top of her game. For her I have twisted rokh versions of classic work attire.
We worked with an artisan tailor to perfect the cut of our wool suiting,
blending those traditional silhouettes with my signature 3-Dconstruction.
Her work is kind of serious, but she herself really isn’t.
I brought in her favorite colors, the baby pinks, creamy blues, and lilacs that she loved.
She always liked pretty things that sparkled, so I embroidered crystals along flowing
black dresses and grandma cardigans. There is a lot of delicate hand embroidery, too,
worked across the heritage fabrics we developed with a Yorkshire mill.
Separately, we have our “File” series of bags, which now can be customized by color,
plus a collaboration with Asics where we covered their sport sneakers with hand-knotted ropes. Both remind me of my sister in different ways.
This collection is the story of her life, as seen through my eyes, a visual love letter sent on
her special day. She was so young when we were together in Austin, so she may not remember
those days as well as I. Watching Disney films as she painted her nails with a glittering polish, eating huge slices of pizza together. Those little moments we shared are what I cherish most and hope she will think of too when she sees it, this wedding gift filled with the love of her only
older brother.
— Rok Hwang, rokh