‘Designed between London and Seoul’ runs the tagline for a new collaborative collection from British label Stefan Cooke – led by the eponymous designer and co-creative director Jake Burt – and South Korean menswear brand, Solid Homme. Some five years in the making, having been delayed by the onset of Covid-19, it sees Stefan Cooke’s sharply defined aesthetic, mined from the subcultural silhouettes of the 2000s and its music scene, meet the innate ease of Solid Homme, a stalwart of South Korean fashion. Since its advent in 1988 – the same year as Seoul was put on the map as host of the Olympics – its founder Woo Young Mi has drawn inspiration from the eclectic dress codes of the city’s streets, which might span work- and sportswear, hiking attire, or Americana.
Which is why it was important for partners Cooke and Burt to visit Seoul, despite the collection having largely been designed in London, where the pair live and work. ‘We visited in March to review the initial prototypes and stood in a room with their design team for three days to make the edits and notes together,’ they tell Wallpaper*. Some of the pieces, which span leather jackets and hoodies adorned by ceramic studs, utility jackets and denim shirts, were ‘pressure designed’ on the spot, a process only made possible by ’the extremely skillful team Solid Homme have’. Afterwards, it was a whistlestop tour of the city – Cooke and Burt had to leave to launch their collaboration with Mulberry in Tokyo the next day – visiting markets, ‘eating incredible food and shopping for research’ (as well as partaking in local liqueur with the team).
