Everything fit for South Korean designer Kiminte Kimhekim, who for fall played with his past and gave clues to his greatest successes.
Early looks of reworked denim and inside-out trench coats recalled her days as a student browsing vintage stores and were an ode to recycling, before moving into a more solid state of pieces from the main collection.
The looks were based on black and white with bright pops of red and were full of little touches of whimsy, like furry sneakers as part of her collaboration with Asics or a faux fur minidress for a night out as a sexy yeti. The thick laces tied backwards on the brogues were another out-of-place touch. She wove these distinctive touchstones of fur and bows throughout the collection without overpowering any look.
He knows how to play on the catwalk and often plays with nostalgia. This season that resulted in the introduction of a bag based on the game of Tetris. Handmade by artisans at the Seoul Bag Research Institute, the design is a series of bags that can fit together like pieces of a puzzle. It's a clever rethinking of form and wear in our accessory-obsessed era, and the motif carries over to the shirt pockets of the co-ed collection.
Elsewhere, pearls, another recurring favorite, dotted denim and hung from sunglasses, while suits had subtle sparkles. But most of the collection was monochrome with contrasting collars or pockets on strong outerwear, houndstooth suits and other soft neutrals of khaki and cloud gray.
The empty seats in the cavernous former C&A store on Rue de Rivoli were no mistake, as models stepped out of the lineup and into the audience to watch the show, adding another fun and unexpected element to Kimhekim's work .
Kimhekim opened a flagship in Cheongdam last year, honing his instinct for salable items, a success he hopes to replicate: plans are in the works to open his flagship in Paris later this year.
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