One of the most difficult parts of any creative venture is finding an identity that best reflects the vision and universe of the minds behind it and learning how to translate it from theory to practice without losing an ounce of its touch in any step of the process. This identity encompasses everything, from the most tangible elements like logistics and production, to the more subjective but equally vital moments of creation, like when the inspiration arises or when an image transforms into a concept. Songzio, the Korean label that has managed to pass the test of time ever since its creation in 1993, seemingly, subtly and successfully evolving as the years go by, is an example of how a solid structure of values, practices and vision can result in a formula for greatness. We discussed it with Jay Songzio, the brand's creative director.
An avant-garde brand that manages to appear and be highly regarded in the general fashion conversations as one of the most interesting proposals each season, while keeping its dark, sharp and sophisticated allure, a reflection of its art-driven practices and desire to follow its own path, is a rare gem in this overexposed, overtalked and oversaturated world. Strongly founded on its own savoir-faire that blends the traditions, techniques and innovation from the East and the West with a mindset that has evolved at the same time as the industry and the world have, Songzio went from being one of the first established Korean fashion labels to making a name for itself inside and outside its borders and earning a respected spot on the Paris Fashion Week calendar.
Living one of its best moments to date, one that Jay Songzio prefers to describe as a new beginning, it seems that 2025 will be a key year to shape what the future of the brand will look like. With the recent inauguration of its first flagship store in Paris, followed by a successful show for FW25, the creation of their first-ever womenswear collection, the release of two new breathtaking campaigns alongside Cho Giseok, an art gallery in Korea, and the plans of opening a new womenswear store also in the French capital and fifteen more stores all around the world, what every season starts with a painting is becoming a multidisciplinary piece that resonates with its audience, and we got the chance to learn more about it with its protagonist.
Hi, Jay. Thank you so much for being here with us. Congratulations on the latest collection, new store, and new campaigns. It seems like Songzio is doing well. Do you consider the brand to be at its best? Seeing its growth from the beginning, how do you feel about your and the brand's evolution?
Thank you for having me! I think definitely if we compare ourselves to the past, how we've been progressing, we are doing much better than we have been before. We've been trying to evolve, but unlike when we worked creatively, we don't quite necessarily think much about the past, so we always like to have a forward-thinking perspective and think more about the future rather than the past. I think I can't say we're necessarily at our best. We have a long way to go. I think every year is a new start. So I think instead of feeling like we're at our best, I think it's just a new beginning.
Is there a particular strategy or shift you believe has contributed to this noticeable success?
I can say that from the launch of the brand, which was in 1993, all the way to 2018 or so, so for the first 25 years, we were more like an atelier; we were more focused on creating artisanal collections. We didn't have any ready-to-wear business, so to say, so we were primarily focused on creating runway collections and special pieces, handmade pieces. I think for quite a long time we were really taking our time as a brand to develop our own savoir-faire. The last seven or eight years, it was really about expanding the brand as a whole, so whether it's expanding the creative universe or expanding our business, I think it's a completely different perspective. We were running the brand before like a small couture house, but now we're more of a ready-to-wear business, and so I think the approach is completely different; the way we work is completely different, and that's why I think the brand was able to grow over the last few years.
I know your brand is very driven by an artistic force. When starting the process of creating a new collection, how much do you take the needs of the market into account? Does Songzio follow its own path purely, or do you consciously align with industry trends as well?
We like to think of ourselves as an avant-garde brand, as an artistic brand. And I think in those two perspectives, the most important thing is really to have a unique creative vision and something new to offer. I think we have to be quite contrarian in the sense that we have to look for what the market does not have. Instead of necessarily thinking about what the trend is or what the market needs at the moment, the only way we can thrive or survive is if we find something that the market lacks, something only we have. So I think we as an avant-garde brand have to always think in an opposite way; we rarely think of what the market necessarily needs. We have done some pieces that the market needs, but oftentimes it is not what people want from us.
Like which ones? Do you remember something in particular?
Not now, I would say, but if I think back two or three years ago, when streetwear was still very big, we did have some streetwear-inspired pieces and things like that, not necessarily what you expect from a brand like us, I think. We don't have many of them now. We try to do what fits best with the brand, with the general aesthetic and with the general storytelling.
Now let's dive into the FW25 collection, which reinterprets and gives a new meaning to the Piccadill, once a symbol of social status and privilege. Have you broken free from some classical conventions tied to your own brand and its history?
I know it's a very ambiguous answer, but it really differs; there's a big swing from collection to collection. In some collections I really think a lot about our own conventions, our own paths, our own details, silhouettes, and all the things that we are used to doing. In other collections I try to completely escape, so to say, and break free of what we do, so it really depends on the kind of story that I'm trying to tell. For the Piccadill collection, I think I did mostly try to avoid – not necessarily avoid, but to break free from – what we used to do. Try to show some new silhouettes and to show some completely new cuts.
In the press release, there's a very precise description of the person you would like to see this season's garments in. “Inspired by the works of Velázquez, this collection captures the emotional depth and psychological complexity of its wearer.” Was there a particular figure that inspired this description? Do you envision a certain archetype of who the ideal target of the collections is, or is this idea mostly aspirational?
I think I could answer that in two ways, in the sense that evidently since the collection was inspired by paintings of Velázquez, if Velázquez were to be reincarnated in the present, I guess that would be the most ideal character. A very romantic figure, very intellectual, very artistic, like the painting behind you, the Caspar Friedrich one (points at the print of Wanderer above the Sea of Fog I have behind me), some kind of wandering, wondering figure. However, when I think about the show or the campaign, we like to do things very cinematically or very theatrically, so once we decide on a certain period, whether it's the baroque period or a mix of the baroque with the present, we like to think of each model or each look as different characters from a certain story, whether that's a piece of theatre or a movie scene. So instead of having one person in mind, we have a more comprehensive idea of how we want the characters to look. So I think it's a more theatrical collection.
You focus on bridging the past with the present not only conceptually but also formally. What elements, silhouettes, or pieces can we see in this collection from the past that you revisited, and how do you make them contemporary?
Yes, I guess the most obvious one is the piccadill. We recreated the piccadills with leather and with metallic fabrics with wires inside, so they were more malleable; we could create different shapes, curves and angles. I think that was the most evident reinterpretation of classical items. The second is the silhouettes. If you look at Baroque paintings or even Renaissance paintings, you can see a lot of these voluminous pants that men wear in particular with long stockings, so we transformed that into the kind of bike pants. We also reinterpreted all the court shoes, all those Mary Jane Santa-looking shoes from the Baroque period, into platform heels and platform shoes. We had many leather jackets in this collection, and they're very inspired by the period armours these noblemen used to wear.
We always like to work with hats. We noticed that in a lot of these baroque hats there were a lot of curves, so we really exaggerated these bendings and these curves on the hats and then threw a symmetrical draping. So if you look at previous seasons' hats, they're more angular, they're more shaped, and they're more classical. We really worked with all these bendings and curves inspired by the classical looks. We have a lot of vertical cuts. If you look at a lot of Baroque blouses or jackets for men and women, you can notice a lot of these vertical slits and cuts. This season we transformed those symmetrical vertical cuts into asymmetrical cutouts that we patchworked piece by piece in the clothing.
There are many elements like this, but I think the most important is the silhouette. The Baroque pieces are larger than life. They have large curves and large volumes and are very tight in some places; it's a very big contrast of shapes. I think that that contrasting and dramatic silhouette is the most important aspect.
We always like to work with hats. We noticed that in a lot of these baroque hats there were a lot of curves, so we really exaggerated these bendings and these curves on the hats and then threw a symmetrical draping. So if you look at previous seasons' hats, they're more angular, they're more shaped, and they're more classical. We really worked with all these bendings and curves inspired by the classical looks. We have a lot of vertical cuts. If you look at a lot of Baroque blouses or jackets for men and women, you can notice a lot of these vertical slits and cuts. This season we transformed those symmetrical vertical cuts into asymmetrical cutouts that we patchworked piece by piece in the clothing.
There are many elements like this, but I think the most important is the silhouette. The Baroque pieces are larger than life. They have large curves and large volumes and are very tight in some places; it's a very big contrast of shapes. I think that that contrasting and dramatic silhouette is the most important aspect.
Just as Velázquez emphasised light and texture to add depth to his paintings, you experimented heavily with fabrics to bring that painterly effect to life. As an artist yourself, was this process intuitive, or did it require extensive trial and error?
I think it's mostly intuitive. If there were to be a percentage, it would be like 70-80% intuitive and then 20-30% through trial and error. I think it's always important to work naturally; it doesn't necessarily yield good results if you force it. So whether it's clothing or painting, I try to do things that feel natural to me.
Your collections often convey a strong dialogue between music and fashion, and FW25 was not the exception. Please walk us through the process of conceiving the music for the show and how it interacts with the garments and the overall concept.
First, when it comes to preparing the music for the collection, we have been working with the same musician over the last two or three years. We do start very early; we start three or four months before the collection. I share my sketches, the inspirations of the collection, the stories and so on from quite an early period. And we really start from the basics. We start looking for sounds. In particular, if it's for the spring or summer season, we always start to look for some natural sounds that we could be inspired by. It could be the sound of an animal, it could be the sound of leaves falling, it could be the wind – all of these natural sounds. And then in fall or winter we go to look for artificial source sounds. So it could be electronic music, it could be some spatial music, it could be some ambient themes, and so on.
From that, as the collection progresses, we talk with the musician; we discuss almost every week to really build step by step. It's a really gradual process where we build this for the show that is around 18 to 20 minutes, so it's really minute by minute building up until we get to the final result, which is always like a day before the show (laughs). It's always a very long effort.
From that, as the collection progresses, we talk with the musician; we discuss almost every week to really build step by step. It's a really gradual process where we build this for the show that is around 18 to 20 minutes, so it's really minute by minute building up until we get to the final result, which is always like a day before the show (laughs). It's always a very long effort.
The experimental live performance of this season was impressive!
This season was very special because, as you mentioned, the live performance was another way of interpreting and kind of also breaking free from past conventions, and also the live performance in itself is kind of like Piccadill, like a symbol of a very classical convention where we had classical musicians playing in courts before. But how to really kind of break free from that very classical tradition and have these live musicians performing very unconventional music? This season, what was most interesting to us was how all the musicians created their own instruments. They came not with existing classical instruments, but they used different metal plates, different metal chords, different wooden sticks, and so on to create their own sound. I think performing live music is a very classical endeavour, but I think the musicians were really able to interpret it in their own unique way, which was very interesting for us.
Do the musicians see the pieces? Do they see the process, or do they take only what you tell them? How is the conversation throughout the collection and the creation of it?
It's very mutual, so I tend to share literally everything I do, even the colour of the fabrics when I have to explain something in particular. Making music can be very abstract, right? So I'm trying to explain a certain feeling, a certain mood I want the audience to feel when they're at the show, so even things like, you know, the season's colours, the season's fabrics – all these things we share. And then musicians – well, our musicians tend to ask quite a lot of questions as well. So we just try to give as much detail as we can.
How have the cultural codes and traditions tied to your Korean heritage fit with the Western market over the years? Have you noticed a shift in your connection with international audiences with time?
I'd say over the last three to five years, the response to Korean culture has been very positive overall, not just in fashion but in arts and other industries as well. So having worked in the West for a long time, I do feel like these last few years are very different, and it's a very positive feeling that I'm still getting used to; it's an overwhelming feeling.
Songzio has played a significant role in the Korean fashion industry for years. What does this position mean to you? Now that many decades have passed since the creation of the brand, what do you think it means for the emerging Korean talents and brands? Do you feel a sense of responsibility about it?
I feel like we have a very established position in Korea, so we always try to really do our best, whether it's in the creative efforts, in the business, in our team, or in all the projects that we do, both in Korea and overseas. We always do our best and try to do our best, but other than that, I do feel like, as one of the first brands in Korea, we would like to encourage a more collective effort. I think evolving a country's culture has to be a collective effort, so we really try to create this collaborative environment so that we can all do better together.
Congratulations on your brand-new womenswear collection. Was this long overdue for Songzio? How was the process of developing and bringing this collection to life?
Well, it's definitely long overdue in the sense that we've been wanting to do womenswear for a very, very long time. In terms of the market demand, I mean, I would like to think there was market demand (laughs), but I feel like in launching a new line with a brand like ours, the most important thing is to have a sense of consistency. Designers can have ideas, and we have moments where we feel very creative, but if these ideas can't be consistent, the brands cannot really last. So I think it's more of an internal desire that's much more important when you decide to launch something new. So doing this womenswear project was definitely more of an internal creative desire than what the market necessarily wants or demands.
In what ways do you feel the womenswear line contributes to the broader narrative of Songzio? What new dimensions does it add to the brand's identity?
I think womenswear is very crucial to our brand in the sense that it will both deepen and expand the creative universe. I feel like a lot of designers would say the same thing. But it's just that when we design for women, we have such an amount of freedom when it comes to everything. The choice of fabrics, the choice of colours, the silhouettes, the details, everything that we like to do, everything that we want to do – I think we can do much better in womens. I think it's very enjoyable. It's very challenging, but it's very enjoyable.
And when conceiving both collections, do you do it at the same time, or do you focus first on menswear, then womenswear?
For the first season, SS25, we did it at the same time; I did it at the same time, and I felt like the womenswear didn't necessarily go to where I wanted it to get to in the sense that because I was designing with the men's collection, it still felt very constrained. So from FW25 I decided to do men's first, and once I'm finished with men's, I'd like to pick out all the parts that I can expand when I do women's and then work on the womenswear collection to make sure that we can do something more dramatic, more conceptual.
Did you already have ideas for womenswear that you were not able to put out before but that now you're ready to explore with the new line?
Yeah, I feel like for the first two seasons, since I've been thinking about this for a long time, I definitely have a lot of things that I've been wanting to do. I think these first two seasons would be relatively easy because I had a long time to think about it. I feel like after these two seasons, it will definitely be a new start. But the thing I want to avoid most is the womenswear collection looking like the men's collection, so I think it will feel nice to start fresh.
Your recent campaign for the SS25 collection with Cho Gi-seok delivered breathtaking imagery where garments and concepts shine equally. This is your third time working together. How did this collaboration come about, and what was the process of merging your two creative visions?
I've been a fan of his work for a long time. Working in the fashion scene, at least in Korea, we were a brand that had a very strong emphasis on creating artistic and surreal collections. The same goes for Cho Gi-seok in the photography scene or in the fashion scene; his creative vision was also very artistic, also very cinematic and theatrical at the same time. I think the two of us had a very good natural fit with the kind of visuals that we like to create. So the process of collaboration came on very naturally, and then it's been very pleasant, and it's been very inspiring to work together. As I explained earlier, we do have a very theatrical and cinematic approach to our collection. We have a very strong emphasis on storytelling, and all of these things he expands in ways that even I couldn't imagine. So I think it's very inspiring for the collection as a whole.
For these campaigns, is the narrative directly tied to the collection's concept, or was it constructed as a way to expand the universe you'd already created with the garments?
Well, it's quite like the music, like working with the musicians in the centre. We do start very early, talking about the story of the collection. Evidently we give him everything that we can: the inspiration of the show, the story of the show, how I think about the characters who would potentially wear the collection, etc. But I feel like the most important part of the process in working with him is to give a great deal of freedom. So I gave him all I could so that we could start, so that we could have some kind of a central vision. But he really takes it from there and has complete freedom over what he creates.
With Songzio's process remaining consistent for over 30 years, where every collection is born from a painting, have you ever felt curious to explore alternative artistic mediums like sculpture or a different approach to storytelling?
I think painting is an endless resource for inspiration for us in the sense that, as I said, it's just a very natural thing. It's just what I'm used to doing and what I feel most comfortable with. And it's not just for me; it's also for the people, the team that I work with, in the sense that it's something that we could all look onto and have our own interpretation of. I did think of using other means, whether it's photography, whether it's videography, or whether it's sculptures, as you said. All of this is very possible for sure, but really it's just like a process to get started with to bring the team together and to also stay very focused. So I think the mean itself is not necessarily the most important thing; it's a process, and everything we do also creates other inspirations, so I think it's a mix of many things.
Do you feel your clients fully understand and connect with the artistic narratives behind your collections? Are you satisfied with how your designs are perceived and interpreted by your audience?
I don't think any designers are ever satisfied (laughs). We definitely try not to explain, but we try to express as much as we can. As you mentioned, all the inspirations, all the methods, all the processes, and all the care that it takes to create the collection, whether it's through the clothes themselves or through other creative content that we share, we try to explain and best express them, but I don't think we can ever be satisfied.
What would you like to see or to hear from the audience to feel like, "Okay, they get what I'm doing"?
Sometimes there are some people, loyal customers or some very old friends of the brand who like to dress themselves only in us because they feel like it fits the way they live. For example, the kind of car you like to drive or the kind of tea they like to drink or the kind of people they like to hang out with or the kind of books they like to read. I feel most satisfied when our brand becomes a part of their daily lives, of their kind of personal identity. So if a certain artistic person who has this very curated routine of life wears our clothes almost every day, that's rather satisfying.
Sort of in this same line, recently the brand received significant attention when Seonghwa from Ateez attended your show. How do you choose which artists or public figures best embody Songzio’s identity? What qualities do they need to reflect your vision?
I think the most important thing is to have a mutual, sincere relationship. These days, most global and luxury brands have, whether it's Korean or international stars, ambassadors and people coming to the show. For an avant-garde brand like us, I don't think the fact that we have a celebrity is very important. The most important thing is whether we have somebody that we really have a sincere relationship with, which is the case with this particular artist, who's been wearing our clothes for a while and who appreciates the collections and who appreciates the aesthetics of the brand. I think because of this very natural and very sincere relationship, that's why we invited him to the show. So I think it's the truthfulness that's the most important thing when it comes to having these artists at our show.
Songzio walks the fine line between order and disorder. In today’s world, where do you find order and where disorder?
Well, I don't know how it is in Spain, but I feel like most parts of the world these days have a great deal of disorder, and the same goes in Korea. For us, for myself, I feel like I have to create a very, rather, strong sense of order to not lose oneself in this very disorderly world. So I feel like it's very important to create a sense of self-order.
Stepping into the role of creative director was likely something you saw coming. Since taking on this position, what key values or fresh perspectives have you brought to the brand that have contributed to its current success?
I think I had the fortune to work with not only my personal vision but also the history of the brand. The fortune of, as we've been discussing, expanding the creative universe, going beyond creating our own handmade pieces and expanding that collection into a collection that people can wear on a day-to-day basis. Going beyond the clothes, we were also able to create these very inspiring campaigns, events or other exhibitions. I think this very expansive approach, this very comprehensive approach, was what I was able to bring to the brand. So I think we will continue to really explore many different artistic areas to make sure that we keep evolving.
Being part of a family-run business, what is a life lesson you learnt from your father that you now apply to the brand? Is there something he used to say that you understand more deeply now?
Our family has a great deal of emphasis on the process of doing things because we feel like, as an artistic brand, the most important thing is to have a very authentic vision and an authentic way of doing things, which is why we have a very consistent creative process as well. And in doing so, we always look for new inspirations every season to make sure that we consistently have new ways of interpreting existing inspirations. We always like to create a very inspiring surrounding, so to say. You know, the books we read, the movies we watch, the music we listen to, and all of these things that we do day to day, we always try to make sure that they really fit what we do, to make sure that they're very real and they're very true to ourselves. We always try to look for what's most true to ourselves. I think that's the most important thing.
