What Seoul is wearing this August

Seoul turns its wardrobe over faster than anywhere we buy from. A shape that is everywhere in one month is gone by the next, and most of what we see there does not survive the flight south: it was cut for a September that drops to 15°C, not for a Tuesday that stays at 34°C from breakfast to bedtime.

So the filter is short. Does it still work at 34°C outside and 19°C indoors, and does it work as one layer, because here one layer is the whole outfit. Three of this month's Seoul shapes pass. One group doesn't, and we've put it at the end.

01 · Ribbons

The bow has moved from the gift to the garment. It sits at a shoulder or at the centre of a neckline, and it is tied rather than sewn on. The version that crosses over is a detail, not a costume. At desk distance a satin tie on one shoulder reads as a strap. It only reads as a bow when someone is close enough to talk to you, and by then it is a nice thing to have noticed.

The Triple Ribbon Top is our worked example. A white corset-style camisole with a lace-trimmed square neckline and three satin ribbon ties — one at each shoulder and one at the centre bust — over a lightly panelled bodice and a short peplum hem. The straps and the chest both adjust, so the neckline sits where you put it. Flat waist 36cm, hem 40cm, 38cm long excluding the straps. Fitted (tighter fit), one size. It goes over the jeans you already own and asks for nothing else.

02 · Balletcore

Wrap shapes and soft knits have left the studio, and in Seoul they are worn as clothes rather than as a reference: a fine cardigan over a camisole, and a hem that curls at the edge instead of finishing straight. Most of it is a cold-weather idea. The one piece that has a job in Singapore is the cardigan, and the job is the same one we described in the slip-dress piece: it is the 19°C layer. Not for the street, for the meeting room, and thin enough to sit in a bag when the meeting ends.

The Ballet Cardigan is a cropped Korean cardigan in a fine sheer knit, with a V-neck, a button-through front, long sleeves and a lettuce-edge hem. Ivory or Pink. Flat chest 33.5cm, shoulder 30cm, waist 31cm, 39cm long. Fitted (tighter fit) with high stretch, one size. The 39cm length is what makes it work here — it ends above the waistband of whatever is underneath, so it adds a layer without adding a second hem in the heat. The rest of what we carry in this register is in the balletcore collection, and almost all of it is a single layer for the same reason.

“We don't buy what Seoul is wearing. We buy the part of it that still works when you step out of the MRT.”

Mije, founder

03 · Ruffles

Volume is the third thing Seoul is doing this month, and the useful version puts it at the shoulder instead of building it out of layers. A ruffle or a folded band across the top of the arm gives an outfit its shape at the widest point of the frame, from one piece of cloth, with nothing added on top of it. It is the opposite of layering: the interest is in the cut, so the body underneath can stay in one thin knit.

The Mint Ruffle Off-Shoulder is the example. A mint off-shoulder top with a wide folded band across the bust and short sleeves that sit on the upper arm. Lettuce-edge trim runs along the fold, the cuffs and the hem. Flat chest 36cm, waist 31.5cm, armhole 14.5cm, 45cm long. Regular (standard fit) and high stretch, one size. The colour is the other reason it made the cut: mint holds up in SEA daylight where a pale pink washes out.

04 · What we'd skip

Full layering — a shirt under a knit under a jacket — is the look that defines Seoul in late summer, and it is built for a city that cools down after dark. Here the second layer is off by the end of the walk from the station. Boots go the same way, and so do the heavy knits, however good they look on the rail. If a piece needs the weather to change before it works, it stays in Seoul.