FW25 OPEN YY ushers in the workwear wardrobe

Seoul’s summer air carried a new kind of promise when OPEN YY debuted Workwear Spirit, its Fall/Winter 2025 collection that asks a deceptively simple question — “Why do we wear menswear?”— and then answers it in layers of looped webbing, oversized pockets, and unexpected drapes. Here, utility is not a starting point but a narrative device: each garment a chapter in how we define ourselves through what we carry and how we move.

At the heart of the collection, utilitarian details become emotional signifiers. Layered knee-sock pants fuse hosiery’s second-skin lightness with cargo trousers’ purposeful heft, while the hooded jersey dress shifts sportswear ease into a quietly sculpted silhouette. The cargo pocket mini dress, with its crisp, architectural hem, softens rugged function via cascading paisley-print panels, and thigh-high ballet boots marry the taut discipline of pointe shoes to the taut rigging of combat-ready straps.

Tactility leaves the periphery as OPEN YY revisits core shapes in fabrics that read as paradoxical: heavyweight velvet, plush velour, and fluid pleats draped over jersey bases. These textural twists transform workwear’s signature sturdiness into something almost domesticated, inviting the wearer to rethink the boundary between protection and comfort.

FW25 mines military and professional codes without sliding into nostalgia. The Loop Effect Hoodie translates tactical hardware into a painterly loop-detail print. The trio of jackets being introduced have influences ranging from artisans to the Air Force. Pockets galore and the everlasting bomber jacket silhouette are taking the centre stage. Together, they underscore how uniforms — whether stitched in a factory or tailored in an atelier — map our ambitions and allegiances.

By the final look, Workwear Spirit has done more than subvert silhouettes: it has reoriented our relationship to utility itself, proving that function-driven design can be as personal as the stories we thread through each pocket and seam. In challenging traditional forms with cultural inquiry and material innovation, OPEN YY turns workwear into a canvas for autonomy and leaves us asking anew why we dress the way we do.