MAXXIJ – “Future Blood”

How far is the distance between fashion and fine art? We are living in the world of adventure, the boundary between art and design is slowly being rubbed off. However, to South Korean fashion designer Lee-Jae Hyun, these labels are very much of a limitation that traps free imaginations, as his brand MAXXIJ focuses on the unexplored possibilities in the field of menswear.

In February 2021, MAXXIJ attended London Fashion Week with a digital runway show “Future Blood”, which is a drastically different collection from its previous pieces. “Future Blood” shows the designer’s strong audacity to break the established menswear traditions, and a bold attempt to build a new structure with conceptualized details, which are incredibly soft and soulful with a slight feminine beauty, based on its military and tech-wear materials. With such strong contrast and creative aesthetic, MAXXIJ has injected some fresh blood into the business of wearing.

MAXXIJ voices a strong declaration that fashion is not merely about wearing, their abstract aesthetic is reflecting a sense of advanced conceptual art. With a background of London College of Fashion, Lee’s design shows the special influence of London’s modern fashion concepts, in which practicality and beauty coexist with each other.

In the video for London Fashion Week, MAXXIJ created a scene that rejects the standard runway environment, the brand applied a sense of abandonment within a large and empty space. In such an atmosphere of solitude, the models appeared with the signature black and beige match, and a touch of bumblebee yellow of accessories, we received a crumbled artistic idea. Visually, it was a surprise.

Lee said: “I chose fashion as a language to express my erratic and exquisite point of view towards beauty and idea.” It is reflected clearly in MAXXIJ’s AW21 collection that a brand-new generation of menswear fashion is coming, in which more designers will attempt to throw away the conventions and limitations, and contribute to an ideal state of the fashion industry that’s more tolerant, bold and rebellious. The world we are living in today has much more unexceptional changes than before, MAXXIJ is reminding us to stay tuned, and be careful to our comfort zones, fashion should not be limited in wearing just because it’s born as something practical; menswear should not be trapped in the same realm every year. As such young blood like MAXXIJ is getting more and more experimental in the fashion industry, a drastic transformation of menswear is happening anytime soon.

Image Credit: MAXXIJ