From K-pop trainee to runway king: Rising Korean designer makes splash at Milan Fashion Week

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From K-pop trainee to runway king: Rising Korean designer makes splash at Milan Fashion Week

Published: 06 May. 2025, 14:30

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Okiio Lounge CEO Yun Jun-hyuk poses during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at Okiio Lounge’s showroom in southern Seoul on April 24. [JOONGANG ILBO]

At a small shop in southern Seoul’s Gangnam District, Okiio Lounge CEO Yun Jun-hyuk is building more than just a fashion brand. He is creating a lifestyle — one shaped by music, art and his own collections — that has captured attention from New York to Milan, Italy.

In just two years, 32-year-old founder Yun has turned his lifestyle label into a rising name on the global fashion stage.

After rising to prominence as a designer at New York Fashion Week in September 2023, he captivated Milan in February with a runway themed around a “family brunch,” earning three honors at the Milan–Seoul cultural exchange event, including a coveted scholarship to Italy’s Istituto Marangoni and an invitation to return for Milan Fashion Week next year.

“Our strategy to do things differently worked,” Yun said during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily at Okiio Lounge’s showroom in southern Seoul on April 24. “While other brands handed out brochures about their fashion shows, we handed out a music playlist, like a restaurant menu, featuring the songs used on our runway.

“We didn’t include a single word about the clothes. I wanted to show that our business philosophy goes beyond fashion to branding culture and the arts.”

From idol to creator

Yun’s path to fashion was unconventional.

He worked on the public relations team at YG Entertainment in his early 20s and was offered a place as a K-pop trainee due to his background, having studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

“I thought about auditioning and becoming an idol,” he said. “But seeing the outstanding talent around me, I wasn’t confident. I dropped out of Berklee, served my military duty and used that time to find what I truly enjoyed and excelled at.”

Okiio Lounge CEO Yun Jun-hyuk poses during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at Okiio Lounge’s showroom in southern Seoul on April 24. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Having grown up traveling through the United States, New Zealand and Hong Kong, Yun decided to leverage his comfort with diverse cultures. He studied communications at Fordham University in New York and returned to Korea during the Covid-19 pandemic, working at an IT consulting firm where he met several startup founders.

“People often think you have to be someone extraordinary to run a business,” Yun said. “But I realized that anyone with a passion and willingness to work hard can start something. Since I had always loved music and fashion, I decided to build my own brand.”

Yun began laying the foundation for Okiio Lounge in 2022, calling on every connection he had.

A former senior member from his military service joined as an executive director. An investor he met through consulting provided seed funding.

Rather than enrolling in formal design programs, Yun learned pattern-making and garment construction in-person from the owner of a small factory specialized in Italian tailoring in Eunpyeong District, northern Seoul.

The inspiration from within

But his biggest inspiration came from home.

“My mother loved pop music and fashion, and I inherited her sensibility,” he said. “I still vividly remember accompanying her to Dongdaemun Peace Market early in the morning when I was in elementary school. Since then, I’ve loved collecting beautiful things, and those collections are the foundation of Okiio Lounge today.”

Okiio Lounge CEO Yun Jun-hyuk poses during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo at Okiio Lounge’s showroom in southern Seoul on April 24. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The brand’s offline shop is more than a retail space — it’s a physical record of Yun’s lifelong collection of perfumes, paintings, music and memories of spaces he has admired.

“My close friends say, 'Isn’t this just your bedroom moved here?'” Yun said with a laugh.

Fans can also experience Yun’s musical taste on the brand’s YouTube channel, also called Okiio Lounge, which boasts 50,000 subscribers. The channel features dozens of playlists curated by Yun, all themed around relaxation.

Okiio Lounge also hosted a pop-up store and an after-party for the Milan show on April 19, welcoming dozens of fans who had discovered the brand online.

“From the beginning, I wanted to create a cultural and artistic community where people could relax,” Yun said about the reason he chooses to brand both music and fashion together. “That’s why I included 'lounge' in the brand’s name and why our clothing focuses on loungewear — clothes you can wear comfortably while resting. I hope people will share similar tastes through Okiio Lounge and expand those tastes into other fields.”

Okiio Lounge’s global ambitions are just beginning. The brand will participate in Pitti Uomo, the world's largest menswear trade fair, in Florence this June, and it is also reviewing offers from Chinese department stores for retail partnerships.

“In the past, if I didn’t see quick results, I would change direction immediately,” he said. “But this time, I want to climb the stairs one step at a time, making sure each step is solid.

“The best part is that I talk more with my father now. We’ve gotten closer because I can share my worries about sales and the future of the brand with him.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY HWANG JEE-YOUNG [[email protected]]