From his designs for BTS and Monsta X to Zico, Rieul Kim has forever changed the landscape of South Korean fashion
Rieul Kim, the contemporary hanbok designer who rose to fame with his creations for K-pop giants BTS and Monsta X, has died recently. The news was confirmed by loved ones on February 12.
Since launching his eponymous label Rieul in 2016, the 32-year-old designer had captivated the fashion world from South Korea to beyond. Inspired by his upbringing in the historic city of Jeonju, he broke into the scene by using traditional Korean hanbok fabrics to create Western-style suits. His first suit took him six months to tailor.
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Following the advice of friends and family, Kim shared his east-meets-west designs on social media. Within a week, his pieces garnered 20,000 likes. Taking this as a good sign, the wide-eyed designer expanded his universe to include the traditional silks on other forms of Western attire such as jeans, rider jackets, sweatshirts and tennis skirts. He even dared to put his modern spin on historical Korean accessories from gat—a horsehair hat—to the gombangdae smoking pipe.