rokh H&M

Korean-born, Texas-raised, UK-educated Rok Hwang’s style is instantly intriguing. It is smart, deliberate, elegant, timeless and iconoclastic — all at once. There’s an experimental quality to his garments: He dissects, examines, reimagines and reconstructs. The resulting pieces are conceptual, even avant-garde — yet eminently refined, fit for purpose and a pleasure to wear.

After designing for some of the most beloved names in womenswear, Hwang founded his eponymous label, rokh, in 2016 and started showing at Paris Fashion Week just three years later. He’s a rising star in the fashion world, with a devoted following.

Together with H&M, Hwang has created a collection that reconsiders and deftly subverts key components of the classic professional wardrobe. There are pieces for men and women, with double-layer trench coats, detachable-hem dresses, corset tops, reworked trousers and denim, a subdued floral print top and pleated skirt set with matching gloves and tights, underwear and logo t-shirts, graphic two-tone metallic jewellery and playful office-inspired accessories, like a briefcase bag and an accordion file clutch. 

rokh H&M explores the complexities — and possibilities — of tailoring, with Hwang building extra layers into his clothes, merging and doubling pieces, lifting elements from one style to add to another, as with the trench dress. He presents a quiet kind of radicalism, breaking down established tropes and offering new alternatives.

The collection is highly modifiable. Pieces can be layered, altered and even worn backwards, and many feature detachable, adjustable elements, like hook-and-eye hems and button-up seams. These are interactive details, not simply decorative; they are an invitation to the wearer to experiment, to make the styles their own, imbuing a uniqueness in every piece.

“I always focus on making my collections as timeless as possible, and one way of doing that is with customisable details”, explains Hwang. “I’ve seen people wearing panels from our signature multi-button trench coat upside down and inside out, in brilliantly unique ways I never imagined when I first came up with the design. To see my clothes being interpreted by people in their own way is one of my greatest pleasures, and I can’t wait to see how customers engage with this fun and dynamic collection for H&M.”

rokh H&M launches in selected stores and on hm.com 18 April 2024.