K-pop, K-fashion, K-drama, K-beauty: over the past decade, K-style has exploded onto the global scene. What is behind this phenomenon? Where does K-style go from here? In Make, Break, Remix: The Rise of K-style, author and communications consultant Fiona Bae makes no attempt to define or categorize the movement, instead celebrating the eclectic and multifaceted nature of K-style and its home city of Seoul.
Photo by less_TAEKYUN KIM
K-pop, K-fashion, K-drama, K-beauty: over the past decade, K-style has exploded onto the global scene. What is behind this phenomenon? Where does K-style go from here?
In Make, Break, Remix: The Rise of K-style, author and communications consultant Fiona Bae makes no attempt to define or categorize the movement, instead celebrating the eclectic and multifaceted nature of K-style and its home city of Seoul. Through interviews with sixteen tastemakers who are shaping K-style across creative sectors—from 1MILLION Dance Studio’s Lia Kim, rock band leader Hwang Soyoon, and world-famous tattoo artist Doy to drag performer Nana Youngrong Kim, Asia’s leading interior designer Teo Yang, and leading K-pop stylist Youngjin Kim (who has styled BTS, Kang Daniel, and NCT)—Bae tells untold stories from true insiders, exploring a sense of identity in their work, how living in Seoul affects them and their creative output, and the decade of changes that has brought about the current K-style.
In her conversation with Frances Cha, Bae discusses the rise of K-style.
Make, Break, Remix: The Rise of K-style will be available for sale during the event.
with Fiona Bae
Thursday, May 25, 2023 | 6:30 PM (EDT)
The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017
About the Speaker:
Fiona Bae is the author of the internationally acclaimed book Make Break Remix: The Rise of K-style published by Thames & Hudson. Born and raised in Korea, she is proud of her heritage and passionate about promoting her country and culture. Following graduation from Yonsei University in Seoul, she has lived around the world, including stints at the UN in New York and four years in Hong Kong, and now resides in London.
Fiona has her own consultancy that looks to bridge Korean culture and the rest of the world by promoting Korean artists, designers and architects internationally. She leads communications for Frieze Seoul, represented the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and worked with museum M+ in Hong Kong. Stories about how her clients are transforming Seoul’s urban life and its design and art scenes have appeared in the Financial Times, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Guardian, The Economist, Le Figaro, Monocle Magazine and Wallpaper*.
About the Moderator:
Frances Cha is the author of the novel If I Had Your Face (Ballantine, 2020), which was named one of the Best Books of the Year by Time Magazine, NPR and BBC among other publications, and is being translated into 11 languages. She is from Korea and worked as a culture editor for CNN in Seoul and Hong Kong. She has taught creative writing at Yonsei University and media studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul and currently teaches undergraduate fiction workshop at Columbia University. Her children’s book The Goblin Twins, set in Korea and New York, is forthcoming from Crown in September, 2023.
