story by Dana Varon
photos by Aeric Meredith-Goujon
Siki Im‘s Spring 2012 collection is an opposing one to his last, but it still holds the thematic of deep cultural influences. Possessing again an air of ritual, like his Native American-themed Fall 2011 line, this collection hones in on his love of Middle Eastern culture, and an idealistic feeling that the emotional/physical uproar there cannot be denied, and can effect the whole world coming together with strength, power and unity.
With each new collection he strives to, “elevate to another level” which is evident in the risks he takes thinking outside of the box with his pieces. The print he is using, a dusty barely there one on black cotton jersey, is an influence of seeing war zones and a bombarded wall, images visible on his mood board backstage. Alternately, there are military earmarks like cargo pockets and oversized hanging flaps, next to heavy linen robes, jumpsuits, tunics and apron-like tops and some pieces longer in the front.
Inspired by the topic of globalization, there are Western elements present with blazers, t-shirts, shorts, and jean bottoms and tops– but not just any jeans, he is introducing DEN IM, a group of three different jean cuts hand-dyed and washed three different ways with a selvedge (unfinished edges) quality. Mr. Im also collaborated with English shoemaker George Cox on two different designs in two different colors to go with the rest of his collection. Amongst the group a prodigious poncho, little black jacket, and long trench round out the globalization-inspired garnered garments. Whether Siki Im took us around the world is hard to say, because the threads to his global inspirations have gone through a serious design filter in his head that makes the landmarks somewhat reorganized, but what we did get is strong looks with innovative cuts and a lot of attention to detail.
