Seoul fashion designers had sports enthusiasts in mind for next spring and summer, judging by the collections that hit the runway at Seoul Fashion Week on Friday.

With sweatshirts and athletic shorts serving as staple pieces, menswear collections featured relaxed, sometimes elevated urban sporty looks that could appeal to trend-savvy men.

Young designers in particular freed men from body-fitting suits, finding their inspiration in gym workouts, and engaging with philosophical concepts. 

Beyond Closet’s Ko Tae-yong opened his show with a layered look featuring rolled-up sweatpants worn under gym shorts to go with a T-shirt and a hooded print jacket.

Ko took the “GYM” logo and different workout sessions as inspirations for his new witty prints featured on jackets, T-shirts and jersey tops.

Known for his pleasant, relaxed yet classical design aesthetic that exudes boyish charms, Ko seems to have taken his collection to a new level with animated prints and reds, yellows and blues that have now become his signature features. More celebrities were seen in the front rows than at any other previous shows was a sign of the brand’s growing popularity.

For a just-out-of-the gym look, the designer added sports accessories such as a sweatband, white towels and a baseball cap. In keeping with the sporty mood, the show had more classic looks as it approached the end, featuring a crisp shirt with a plunging neckline matched with beige chino pants. 

Dominic’s Way created its own boxing league with satin boxer shorts and lightweight chiffon hooded boxer capes, topped with boxing headgear and gloves.

Song Hye-myung, the designer leading the grungy, gothic-style brand, brought out graffiti as a major print theme of the collection. The graffiti-inspired prints on boxer shorts and coats created the image of an underground boxing league. 

Jehee Sheen, whose collections are often based on serious concepts, started with a light, all-white look featuring sleeveless sweatshirts matched with shorts and open-toe high-top sneakers. The whites stood out in contrast with the heavy, loud drum sound blaring throughout the show.

The minimalist all-whites started to fade out as wide blocks and leather appeared on the jacket fronts and sleeves. Backstage, the designer called them “prints inspired by raw, unprocessed, primitive things that are meant to talk about the essence of beauty.”

While the designer intended to present a serious collection, some sheer fabrics layered on top kept the show from getting too heavy. 

In Cy Choi’s show, words spoke more about the show than clothes. The designer used phrases and words he was inspired by while reading poet Yoo Hee-kyung’s poem.

The words such as “unspeakable,” “sigh” and “wonder” were featured on the T-shirt fronts, on bags and on demonstration pickets models held, which looked so overwhelming that they seemed to be the main actors of the show.

Classical tailoring ruled throughout the show with regular-fitted jackets matched with Bermuda shorts, and a deconstructed tailoring jacket and waterproof raw-cut raincoat showing both rough and sharp images.

Caruso and kimseoryong homme, brands known for their slim-fitting tailored suits, presented their signature silhouettes, but at the same time added relaxed silhouettes that came in soft shoulders, baggy pants and open coats.

Seoul Fashion week kicked off Friday and closes Wednesday.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)