After Korean brand We11done’s first show in Seoul in three years, we catch up with founders Jessica Jung and Dami Kwon to examine the label’s most personal collection yet.
Attending last month’s spring/ summer 2024 show by We11done, we were kept at the edge of our seats by the sheer thrill of anticipation. The fashion brand was established in 2015 by friends of 12 years, Jessica Jung and Dami Kwon. For the past eight years it’s been agitating Korea’s coolest and most fashionable – and when in September the first model strutted down the pristine crystal-white hall built for the occasion right outside of COEX in Gangnam, the mythology of We11done’s grandeur became palpable reality. The astonished gazes of attendees, such as G-Dragon, Lee Soo-hyuk, Lee Jae Wook and Irene Kim, and the cheering of fans witnessing the show outdoors from COEX’s screens only highlighted the joyful atmosphere.
As with any art form, fashion is deeply symbolic, and the show’s venue and date carried profound depth. “COEX symbolises K-pop, and because We11done pursues and is inspired by art, it made sense to show during Frieze Seoul,” says Jung, We11done’s creative director. “Although K-POP isn’t a direct inspiration for us, the Korean culture and trends represented by it are.” Lest we forget, with several shows at Paris Fashion Week behind it, We11done is both Korean and international.
The brand’s Seoul return could be called historic – after all, the show marked the first time a local brand had staged a defilé at this location. “It feels good to be home,” Jung says tenderly. Indeed, it does.
After three years of showing in Paris, Kwon and Jung’s return to their home turf called for subtlety: an awestruck public needed to be eased into the brand’s savoir-faire. “Previously, We11done had a little heavy mood, so this time we started by talking about how to become a little subtler and look younger,” says Jung. Gossamer lightness was evident throughout the collection. And no, it didn’t reveal itself through feathers and wisps of tulle, but rather crisp dresses that graduated into stiff knife-pleated mini-skirts and charming bustiers with sweetheart necklines; such were the chimaeras that blurred the lines between sculpture and clothing. After all, Jung says, “We11done is all about the exquisite balance between the strong and the weak.”
She wanted to expose the faint sentiment of homecoming – in a sense more biblical than scholastic – through pieces uncomplicated by the thrill of it all. Named Remnants of Home, the collection paid homage to the enduring legacy of Korean sculptor and installation artist Do Ho Suh. “We were impressed with his work, so we used those colours as the main characters of our designs,” she says. Indeed, Suh’s influences jumped out in the form
of sleeveless vinyl dresses (wearable as vests) in black, beige and red, and bulky yellow tops (also doubling as dresses). Postmodernism and minimalism are, after all, We11done’s Rosetta Stone.
As applause thundered through the venue and the cheers roared outside during the finale, it was clear the wayward daughters had returned – and that called for a grand celebration. In many ways – and as they both confessed – Remnants of Home felt like their first show.
Is it even possible to describe Remnants of Home in a single word? Artistic? Impactful? Naturally – but, above all, sexless. Or genderless. Each scoop-necked tank top doubles as a dress, while each slouchy blazer with peculiar lapels (they transform into a crewneck at the clavicles) looks alluringly erotic on men, women and anyone in between. Is this rejection of gender We11done’s founding ethos or a way of catering to trendy Gen Zs? “I’m not saying that genderless fashion is the future, but some of its aspects have gained mainstream cultural value,” says Jung. “So we follow.” It’s no wonder that Jung’s idea of the brand’s customers is “young, culturally sensitive and trendy people in their early 20s.”
Jung’s approach to spring/summer 2024 was almost academic. At the second floor of We11done flagship store (currently under renovation), where we sat down for our interview, the founders showed us the mood board that started it all. The photos and sketches of Do Ho Suh’s works – including his Bridging Home installation from the Liverpool Biennial in 2010 – were up top, mingling with Man Ray’s Glass Tears, a picture of Brigitte Bardot and doe-eyed Saoirse Ronan from Atonement at the bottom. “[The inspiration] can be a music video, a film or a TV show,” says Jung about her creative process. “I always begin with a simple form and then explore the thoughts
it triggers; we’re continuing to choose art as the starting point of our collections.”
Tracing We11done and its status as a cultural phenomenon to their source is a fascinating exercise. In 2014, Jung and Kwon launched Rare Market, a compendium of innovative international brands including Marine Serre, Peter Do, Jacquemus and Diesel. It was a brave and triumphant attempt to redefine the way Korean people dressed. To regurgitate Jung’s quote from an earlier interview, “It doesn’t have to always be about Chanel, Louis Vuitton or Gucci.” Now, even though Kwon, who handles the business side, and Jung control their own territories within the brand, they still give each other creative and business advice.
Both We11done and Rare Market grew out of a keen ability to distil fashion’s most rousing pieces, along with a certain precognition shared by Jung and Kwon that developed during childhood. When Jung’s middle-school classmates were obsessing about celebrities, she developed an avid interest in fashion. “At the time I was living in a rural area,” she says, “and getting fashion magazines was hard. I had to call the Kyobo bookstore in Seoul to reserve the copies of French and American Vogue.”
Yet curiously it was Kwon who grew up in closer proximity to actual design. “My mother’s job was to make clothes,” she reminisces. “Me and my brother both got to experience it. The process, shapes, colours – that’s always been fascinating to me.”
It would be reductive to call We11done simply an extension of Jung’s style. The brand, after all, does carry both its founders’ aesthetic influences, including a mutual penchant for ’80s American pop-culture and K-pop, though some elements in We11done’s oeuvre can be traced directly to the creative director’s wardrobe.
“I don’t like stereotypical designs,” Jung tells us. “Sometimes I wear formal clothes, but at others I incorporate more funky elements into my outfits, like chains [it would be easy to imagine her donning the silky blazer coat with stiff metal necklace that closed the spring/summer 2023 collection].” She also changes her style every three months. “Our employees won’t let me lie about this,” she says, laughing. And so, of course, We11done employs vast accent points that vary from season to season: lace in spring/summer 2023, metal studs in autumn/winter 2023 and vinyl bandeau tops in spring/summer 2024.
Today, as We11done approaches what could be described as its adolescence, the founders have also entered new phases of their lives. In 2019, Kwon married actor Kim Min-joon and in February last year gave birth to a son, Eden. And Jung, in turn, is raising her six-year-old daughter. Naturally, we wonder about the impact this has had on their work.
“A lot of people in the same profession as us fear getting older the most,” Jung says, as Kwon nods approvingly. “We’re more afraid of our thoughts getting older than our age. All of us. At work I indulge myself to be purely creative and try not to connect with my role as a mother back home.” Ruthlessly pragmatic though that may sound, a clear separation between the personal and professional has helped many artists to create.
As the white walls it was presented against might suggest, the Remnants of Home could symbolise a clean slate and the starting point of a brave new chapter for We11done. The duo is now eyeing global expansion. In January 2022, an announcement was made about the acquisition of a majority stake in the brand by investment firm Sequoia China, in which former Vogue China editor-in-chief and Prestige Woman of Power Angelica Cheung played a significant role. It’s fascinating to witness how a fashion brand, built on trust and friendship, which started with just 11 employees (if you were wondering what’s the significance of 11 in We11done), eight years later has a team of over 150 and is confidently stretching its arms towards China.
“We’ve been looking for a partner to help us extend our market presence to China for a while now,” says Kwon. “Now we have a dedicated team up and running.” She also points out that there’s been an interest in We11done among concept stores in Southeast Asia. We too are eagerly awaiting We11done’s further disruption of the fashion landscape. It’s only a matter of time.