Wearing designer knockoffs used to be a common bi-product of a family holiday to Thailand in the late 90s. Coming home with a bag full of Polo shirts and Tag watches was just part and parcel of a successful trip.

But wearing knockoffs out as an adult has always had a bit of a taboo attached to it, particularly amongst the fashionista community. With the recent infiltration of  streetwear into high fashion, we’ve seen this slowly change,  where the ‘bootleg’ – the obvious homemade fake, has become a unique item to wear. That’s because these are less likely to be coming out of China, and more so out of an artist or designers local garage as a limited run, even marketed across the world (at heavy premiums).

But we haven’t seen anything compared to what’s going on in South Korea. The farshion kids have gotten serious about bootlegs as a style, going so far as to spend hours individually customising their knockoff pieces. At the recent Seoul Fashion Week, it has been reported that there were large contingents sporting unapologetically fake DIY designer logos as part of their looks.

While the country has seen the rise of some of the most talented designers, South Korea also has one of the largest markets of counterfeit fashion goods in the world, giving them a lot of material to work with.

This could be interpreted as a bit of a fuck you to the fashion industry, essentially supporting the counterfeit trade and driving trends away from originals, or it could just be another way for these people to try and be different / stay relevant. I’m leaning towards the latter.

I don’t know about the infant texta scribble on clothing getting much further than Seoul, but  if you can’t afford the real thing, a bit of arts and craft on a bootleg could be a solid farshion option this season.

Photo Credit: Highsnobiety