Andersson Bell SS24 Collection: Exploring Contrasting Cultural Elements in Seoul

Spring Summer 2024

Seoul-based label Andersson Bell, born from the desire to combine contrasting cultural elements through dress, marks its 10-year anniversary with the brand’s Milan Fashion Week debut.

For SS24, creative director Dohun Kim looks to his teenage years in Seoul, where he would spend his days wandering through the city’s vintage district. He’s been drawn to military surplus garb and denim wear from an early age. With the intention of uniting two different design agendas, this season the brand focuses on military and racing-inspired pieces through a distinct look that feels quintessentially Andersson Bell.

The collection, titled “The 10th Anniversary”, introduces a wealth of unlikely design concoctions. What appears to be a pair of frayed jeans, for instance, dissolve into cargo trousers, whilst a worn-in biker jacket fades from roughed-up leather to denim. A similar distortion is applied to a pea green cable knit which comes patchworked at the back, utilizing multi-coloured swatches of wool which are pieced together like Tetris blocks.

With a strong focus on functionality and garment innovation, key pieces include a roomy anorak collaged together using magazine clippings and weaved denim twinsets with protruding, frayed patterns.

Throughout, the collection is exposed to a harsh glamour. A hand knitted crocheted floor-length frock, punctuated with shades of blue and violet, is weathered and torn in places. A hybrid bomber mashes together a slew of former MA-1 flight jackets. One deconstructed look turns old military wear into a jacket equipped with giant pockets and a corset detailing at the back.

The collection’s transformative qualities extend to this season’s accessories. The leather Vaso bag adopts the silhouette of a vase, oblong with a sphere-shape center. Similarly, the Guitar bag borrows its look from the body of the musical instrument, trippy in its final form.

This season, Andersson Bell also introduces a new unisex sneaker to its repertoire. The Aaron Trail, the low-top trainer is akin to a walking shoe, with a padded sole and a sturdy upper which mixes calfskin leather, suede and nylon. The sneaker is available in crimson, beige, silver and black.