WOOYOUNGMI FW26 Explores the Golden Age of Travel
Transporting the audience to the wintery railway platforms of Seoul.
Summary
-
The WOOYOUNGMI FW26 collection explores the “golden age of travel,” blending the historical elegance of South Korea’s first railway commuters with contemporary, body-conscious winter silhouettes
-
South Korean iconography is integrated through dancheong temple motifs on knitwear and palatial winterscapes printed on silk shirts, reimagining traditional cold-weather attire through a local lens
-
The accessory range focuses on “protective elegance,” featuring silver-logo collar bars, exotic-embossed heritage luggage, and a symbiosis of high-fashion opera gloves with rugged hiking footwear
For Fall/Winter 2026, Madame Woo transports the WOOYOUNGMI universe to the frozen platforms of the Gyeongin—South Korea’s inaugural railway. The collection is a high-drama meditation on “protective elegance,” bridging the gap between the turn-of-the-century steam engine era and the kinetic energy of the modern Seoul metro. Drawing from a “Far Eastern fantasia” of snow-laden mountains and icy cityscapes, the wardrobe reimagines winter not just as a season to endure, but as a deliberate sartorial performance.
The silhouette is a sophisticated tug-of-war between Edwardian dandyism and the louche glamour of the 1970s. Tailoring takes on a body-conscious discipline; blazers, faux astrakhan breastplates, and hourglass leather field jackets are engineered to hug the physique, providing a “strict yet soft” structure against the elements. Traditional outerwear materials are subverted into sleek, intimate staples, while voluminous faux fur bombers and Chesterfield coats with plush lapels offer a nomadic, opulent counterpoint.
South Korean heritage is woven into the very fabric of the global winter wardrobe. Classic Nordic knitwear patterns are cleverly replaced with dancheong motifs—the intricate paintings found on Korean temples—while silk foulards depict snow-covered pagodas. This cultural exchange extends to the accessories, where starched cuffs and silver-barred high collars serve as jewelry. Grounded by glazed leather hiking boots and padded opera gloves, the collection harmonizes old-world travel—evoked by exotic-embossed carryalls—with the contemporary “techno-wear” of the urban commuter. Accompanied by a soundtrack of digitally-generated Buddhist chanting and Gregorian hymns, WOOYOUNGMI FW26 defines a new era of nomadic glamour.
