'Find the novelty within': Songzio CD relays fashion brand's expansive plans

Korean fashion brand Songzio has stayed true to its avant-garde style for three decades, and now has plans to expand to Paris and New York with innovative art-focused flagship stores and pop art collaborations.

Jay Song, CEO and creative director of Songzio, met with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the Songzio International headquarters in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, last month. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Fads may come and go, but Songzio is one Korean fashion brand that took the road less traveled, showing unwavering commitment to its signature style for three decades straight. Since reinventing Korean menswear with its black couture, particularly sharp, sleek suits and long coats, the eponymous designer fashion house has continued to produce what it calls “avant-garde elegance.”

It also found its second home in Paris, regularly holding shows during Paris Fashion Week since 2007.

Actor and Songzio muse Cha Seung-won, left, and chairman Song Zio, in a photoshoot for Songzio's 30th anniversary collection last September [SONGZIO]

The secret to being unrivaled even among its Parisian peers is the Eastern-inspired look that only Songzio embodies, CEO and creative director Jay Song told the Korea JoongAng Daily in an interview at the Songzio International headquarters in Seongdong District, eastern Seoul, last month.

Jay Song is the son of founder and chairman Song Zio himself. Every single garment in Songzio, along with its sister companies Songzio Homme, Zzero Songzio and Ziosongzio, are designed by the father and son.

“The Eastern look is what represents our brand’s identity, so it’s much more valuable than just chasing after ever-changing trends,” Song said. Eastern and Western garments differ in terms of patterns, silhouettes, color and material. It’s always been Songzio’s desire to find the perfect Eastern look that encapsulates a feeling that can’t be found elsewhere, especially in the West.

It’s hard to explain precisely, Song said, but he was confident that it’s what they do best. And seeing that the brand continues to ceaselessly expand in scale, sales and reputation, it's hard not to believe him.

A Songzio pop-up store inside the Printemps department store in Paris that opened in December, which debuted the brand's 2024 Spring/Summer collection ″Pure Rebel″ and exhibited Songzio artworks [SONGZIO]

Songzio has yet a busier year ahead, with plans to launch flagship stores in Seoul in April, Paris in August and New York next year. Although the concept of flagship stores is nothing new, Songzio’s versions are planned to have trailblazing content.

“The aim of each flagship is different, but we're working hard especially on the interior architecture,” Song said. The company has designed everything for the stores, even up to the door handles.

“Since we are fundamentally a fashion brand and a group of creatives, we want to make sure the arrangement is aesthetically pleasing as well.”

All four Songzio labels are already operating some 70 stores across Korea, “so there was a lot of time spent discussing how we were going to display the creative process or even just our moments of contemplation for the upcoming flagship store in Seoul,” Song said.

A graphic representation of the Songzio Seoul flagship store [SONGZIO]

The Seoul store, which will be located in Sinsa-dong of Gangnam District, southern Seoul, will be a three-story-tall black building with a basement floor made of concrete and wood. It will feature a playground — “to symbolize the pureness like that of a child in our work” — and will function more as an art gallery, or, rather, a cultural complex.

“I don’t think our wardrobe fills up even half the space in each floor for the Seoul flagship. Even the navigation inside the store will be like a museum,” Song said. “All three flagships will have markedly more artwork arranged inside that was painted by chairman Song or me,” Song said.

“It’s not about how many clothes we sell. We want anyone who enjoys culture to visit and be able to contemplate art together.”

The third floor of the flagship store will be used as an art space called Blackeyes Gallery, which will exhibit artwork by young emerging artists.

A clothing store under the guise of an art gallery? As strange as it may seem, it’s actually not — at least for those who are already somewhat familiar with Songzio. Not only did Songzio embark as a fashion house for menswear, it’s also an avant-garde atelier, meaning that the creative process heavily involves art. Every single garment in the Songzio collections are derived from paintings created by the Songs. These paintings aren’t just oil or acrylics on the usual white canvas, but rather a black surface.

Jay Song, CEO and creative director of Songzio [PARK SANG-MOON]

Paint on Black Black is undoubtedly Songzio’s theme color. Most of the attire it makes is black, and even the headquarter boasts a strikingly chic, black interior. And the paintings by the Songs all come from black canvases.

The intention behind taking a fine art approach is in line with the aforementioned playground — a representation of the brand’s pureness.

“Our work ethic has always been to find the novelty within, not from the outside,” Song said. “So we would depict our intrinsic ideas with abstract paintings and afterward convey that sentiment onto the garment. In order for the results to be different, the work procedure should be different as well.”

A graphic representation of the Songzio Paris flagship store [SONGZIO]

Paris! New York! Paris takes a different approach from Seoul for its upcoming flagship store.

“The brand’s identity has already been solidly established in Paris, so we're aiming for a more dynamic, futuristic and Eastern atmosphere; vibes that are unprecedented in Paris,” Song said.

Paris is also the city that will debut Songzio’s first-ever womenswear line, slated for next year.

The New York flagship will incorporate pop art-like elements to resemble the giant metropolis. Despite Songzio’s emblematic black looks that don't initially fit the pop genre, generally known for its flamboyance, for years, Songzio has collaborated with iconic brands including Disney, Snoopy, Pixar’s “Toy Story” and Tim Burton’s “A Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Looks from the latest Songzio and Warner Bros. collaboration [WARNER BROS.]

Looks from the latest Songzio and Warner Bros. collaboration [WARNER BROS.]

Its latest collection, comprised of embroidered shirts, is with Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters — Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat and Taz — have the Songzio twist. Another collection made with Warner Bros., this one with Tom and Jerry, is scheduled for release next month.

“It’s the biggest collaboration we’ve done so far,” Song said. “So we couldn’t simply show them all at once. That’s why we decided to drop the collection on two separate occasions.

“People tend to think that our brand is dark and serious, which is why we’ve been doing these pop-related projects. Customers have been enjoying the Songzio reinterpretations of characters that the world adores.”

Runway looks from Songzio's 2024 Fall/Winter collection ″Night Thieves″ during Paris Fashion Week in January [SONGZIO]

Inside the mind of Songzio Never was there a time that Songzio aimed to fit the mold: It has always been and always will strive to be unique. But Song agrees that there still needs to be a balance between old and new, especially when doing business.

“Nowadays people prefer casual methods of communication, and speed is key,” Song said. “But as a high-end brand, it’s important that we stick to the classics — catering to the personal needs of every single one of our customers like the bespoke culture in the old days.”

When asked what a family-run business is like, for things such as resolving disagreements, Song said that there aren’t many to begin with. The Songzio brand has been part of his identity his entire life, as he spent his childhood in Paris and watched his designer parents build Songzio up from scratch.

“You may think that my parents tend to be more traditional, but it’s actually quite the opposite,” he said. “My father would continuously seek something new, but I would want to keep the archive and brand identity that I’ve been seeing since I was younger. I always want to build upon the old ideas. That’s why I don’t really keep track of the trends anymore, or actively find inspiration from the outside: I’ve done this for so long that my instincts know better now.”

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]