Think Canadian tuxedos are only for casual days?
Juun.J’s Jung Wook-jun did the denim-on-denim combo justice, with dramatic versions that wouldn’t look out of place at a ball in a fall collection where formal tailoring ruled.
The creative director feels we are at “the turning point in terms of trends,” he said through a translator. “The last decade was all about the hip-hop casual, but from now on, we’re going to return to a classic, very formal direction.”
The fall collections are proving his point: just count how many so far in Paris and Milan have taken a tailored track, opening with a suit, tailored coat or neat blazer.
But while ideas of formalwear underpinned his work, the result was anything but traditional.
One of Juun.J’s signatures is hybrids, where it’s business at the top, party at the bottom, and Jung was in fine form for fall.
Standouts included sharp jackets, fitted leather shirts and XXL tailored slacks; a tailored wool coat with a gradual transition from checked to worsted wools; puffy blousons, with or without a shearling collar; trompe-l’oeil overalls that looked like suiting separates tucked into each other; ribbed sweaters that evolved into puffball skirts, and a sequined dress where a subtle mottled motif nodded to Jung’s proclivity for mining army codes. The season also saw him play with a floral print for the first time.
As for those all-denim looks, they paired shirts with a plissé bib or an opulently ruffled placket with jeans with a martingale detail on the back. Instead of a stripe, a convex panel turned straight legs into generous balloon shapes, imparting an appropriately dressy vibe.
Along with zhuzhed-up motorcycle gear, courtesy of a collaboration with specialist Alpinestar, they hinted that in the right hands, yesterday’s humble garb can be tomorrow’s formal attire.
