KANGHYUK - Urban protection

Made from airbags, the creations of the Korean brand Kanghyuk offer a clever balance between material and concept. Proof is this collection spring-summer 2018collection, a direct follow-up to the one presented last summer at Leclaireur Sévigné.

Whether it's a jacket, a coat, a parka, or a shirt, 15 airbags are sometimes needed to make a single piece. Their creator, Kanghyuk Choi, plays on the transparency and opacity of the material, making a complete wardrobe out of this more or less thick, flexible fabric, usually used for the protection of vehicle passengers. Kanghyuk blurs the lines between sportswear and urban, proposing a reversible jacket, in a reflective grey on one side, white on the other, or a coat and a parka, with a much more urban look.

The designer, who hails from South Korea, deconstructs airbags by hand, separating them from their oxygen tanks and working them into their original form. He even goes so far as to keep the serial numbers, and the vents - holes allowing the airbag to deflate once it is engaged - which can be found on one of the sport jackets in the collection. When the fabric is not equipped with it, it is more or less porous, diverted at Kanghyuk in a shirt, to let the body breathe, here in a reflective gray, in order to capture the light, everywhere, all the time.

Dare Kanghyuk in complete safety at Leclaireur Sévigné.