The death of personal style has been a trending topic of conversation among fashion-philes. Newsletters, personal essays, trend recaps—fashion writers seem to be preoccupied with the state of individuality, and by the fact that, despite our best efforts, we all seem to dress the same. But it’s not that we all look like carbon-copies of each other, it’s that we’re all looking at similar things. Our individuality is informed by variations of the same things—we have access to everything, but algorithms and taxonomies and “for you” pages…they all show us a blend of similar source material.
This was the backdrop of Yoon’s fall 2023 Ambush collection. “I like to mix elements that inspire me, finding a good balance between them in my world,” the designer said over breakfast—she was in New York to host a rave with Nike—“but there’s always an underlying social study. I’m curious as to why people act a certain way or react to certain things.”
Last season Yoon recreated a rave scene; for fall “the kids partied too much so they got sent to private school.” She’s intrigued by the notion of adding individuality to something as restrictive as a uniform. How can one find identity within monotony? For Yoon, the answer is in the details. There were trippy double waistbands on tailored shorts and trousers; button-downs and jackets cut to drape around the shoulders and held in place by grommet-clad straps; charcoal knits with their hems distressed; varsity jackets with an extra layer of leather on the bodices; oversized blazers and coats with harnesses across the chest; and leather jackets with spray painted graphics. You can take the kids out of the rave, but not the rave out of the kids.
Yoon’s influences this time around included Aphex Twin and K-Pop group New Jeans, Japanese private school uniforms, Kinji Fukasaku’s cult 2000 film Battle Royale, and dark techno. The techno set the pace for this season. Yoon tends to tie in her collections to music, and the repetitive nature of the genre’s beat helped guide the uniform concept. “It’s not as twisted or colorful as a rave,” she said, “it’s repetitive and a little darker.”
Fashion of late has been looking at uniforms because of their ripeness for subversion. There’s irony in wearing a school uniform to a rave or a fashion show, but what happens when uniforms are…the uniform? “If you look at the big picture, some people say they exercise their individuality, but everyone still puts on the same uniform of a certain trope that they play,” Yoon said.
There’s truth in that—look at any street style gallery and you’ll spot all the fashion archetypes. Influencers dress a certain way because they think that’s how they’re supposed to look, ditto editors and designers. We play the same archetypes we assign to ourselves over and over and over. As Yoon said, “we never really graduate from high school.”
