Under the soft lights of a fall evening in New York, more than 180 guests gathered at From Runway to Table, an event hosted by the Korean Artists Network Association and sponsored by the Korean Consulate. The evening celebrated the dialogue between art, fashion, and culture. Among the four designers invited to exhibit, one stood out quietly but unmistakably. Seung Yeon Kim’s collection 24/25 did not raise its voice. It whispered, yet it lingered in the minds of those who saw it.

The collection was born from reflection. 24/25 captures Kim’s mid twenties, a period she describes as both chaotic and formative. “It was the first time I was forced to juggle too many things,” she said. “Work, dreams, independence, uncertainty. I wanted to turn that confusion into beauty.”

Her “octopus dress” became the centerpiece of the show. Instead of a traditional skirt, thirty two sleeves cascaded from the waist, each one twisting and curling like thoughts that refused to stay still. The dress was both sculpture and story, movement and stillness. It looked alive when the wind blew as if breathing with her own memories.

The sleeves were more than decoration. They were a metaphor for her own restless state of mind. “Every sleeve represented a responsibility or desire that was pulling me in a different direction,” she explained. “But together they still formed a full, balanced silhouette. That was the lesson I learned in my twenties. Chaos can still hold grace.”

Bows and hand embroidered rhinestone motifs appeared throughout the collection, as delicate traces of innocence woven into the garments. They recalled a girlhood that refused to completely disappear. Yet every piece was structured in a shirt form, a deliberate contrast that spoke of maturity and control. The tension between the two created the heartbeat of 24/25: the dialogue between who she was and who she was becoming.

Kim chose sheer silk organza and layered fabrics to express emotional transparency. “In my early twenties I didn’t know how to hide my feelings,” she said. “Now I do. But at that time everything showed.” When light from the venue’s large windows touched the fabric, it scattered into translucent color. The overlapping layers shimmered like watercolor on glass, evoking both fragility and resilience. Guests paused in front of the display, drawn to the subtle motion of fabric that seemed to hold emotion inside its folds.

As the evening unfolded, her section became one of the most visited corners of the exhibition. Visitors took photos, recorded videos, and whispered that her work was their favorite. Kim watched them with quiet astonishment. It was not the attention that moved her, but the reactions she saw on their faces. “They looked nostalgic,” she said. “Like the clothes were reminding them of something they had forgotten. Maybe their own youth, or a version of themselves that felt free.”

That moment, she recalls, changed something in her. It was not about validation but realization. She understood that her work could reach beyond aesthetics, that it could make people feel. “When someone tells me they felt something because of what I made, that is when I feel most alive,” she said.

The success of 24/25 marked a turning point in her creative journey. Having built an accomplished career across major fashion houses in New York, Kim had already proven her technical and commercial ability. But this exhibition reawakened the artist within the designer. It reminded her why she began. “I spent years designing for brands, for markets, for calendars,” she said. “But this project reminded me that design can still be personal. It can start from honesty.”

Through 24/25, Kim discovered that vulnerability could be strength. The collection became a map of emotional evolution, tracing the line between confusion and clarity. The reaction from the audience reaffirmed her belief that contemporary fashion still has space for sincerity. “We live in a time when fashion moves too fast,” she said. “But emotion takes time. I want to make clothes that feel slow, that let people breathe.”

Her experience at From Runway to Table did more than showcase her talent. It positioned her as a designer whose voice bridges cultures and generations. Rooted in Korean sensibility and shaped by her experience in New York, Kim’s work embodies the exchange that defines modern design. She brings the precision of the East and the experimentation of the West, combining them into a language that feels both intimate and universal.

That night’s applause and quiet admiration reminded her that art is not measured by volume but by resonance. In a city crowded with ambition, Kim’s work stood out for its calm conviction. Her approach, sensitive yet disciplined, emotional yet structured- reflects the kind of creative force that strengthens the cultural fabric of New York itself.

Today she continues to design with the same clarity that 24/25 revealed. “The collection was about learning to live with complexity,” she says. “Now I design with that in mind. Every woman I create for carries many lives within her. My job is to make those lives feel beautiful, even when they are messy.”

The exhibition became more than a milestone. It reignited her commitment to fashion as both craft and communication. It reaffirmed her belief that design can hold empathy, that clothes can speak without words. For Kim, the journey from chaos to coherence is not just her personal story. It is her creative signature.

As she looks ahead, she sees herself not only as a designer working within brands but as an artist contributing to the broader cultural dialogue. Her story reflects the creative energy that New York embraces: global, introspective, and forward-moving.

“I want to keep creating work that connects people,” she says. “Fashion is not only about what we wear. It’s about what we remember when we see something beautiful.”

In that way, Seung Yeon Kim’s artistry reaches beyond fabric. It touches memory, emotion, and the quiet places where art and life meet. Her presence in the American design landscape is not only proof of her skill but of her ability to inspire. An artist who turns personal reflection into collective emotion, and in doing so, becomes a lasting part of the story she once dreamed of joining.

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