The coolest accessories right now come from South Korea

As a longtime follower of South Korea’s fashion scene, my eyes are always glued to the streets of Seoul when March and October roll around. South Korean designers have proven themselves to be light-years ahead when it comes to ready-to-wear silhouettes and kickstarting trends like layering a skirt over pants. In April, when I popped over to a New York City pop-up hosted by the South Korean accessories brand Stand Oil, I realized that Korea’s sartorial intrigue had spread farther than I thought. There, as a coterie of editors, influencers, and shoppers fawned over a curated selection of sleek handbags and dainty shoes, it dawned on me that Korean fashion was no longer a whispered niche.

My reality has now shifted in ways that confirm my suspicions were correct: K-fashion has taken over the globe but specifically, everyone’s obsessed with Korean accessories. Over the past few months, my FYP has become an infinite scroll of content creators, celebrities, and fashion lovers name-dropping labels like Samo Ondoh, Osoi, and Matin Kim like they’d hacked in my saved folder. The craze — and perhaps it can be called that — has gotten so extreme that U.S.-based influencers have amassed big enough arsenals to make videos like “my Korean midrange bag collection.”

What’s made Korean accessories so coveted is that many brands exhibit one-of-a-kind sensibilities: the ability to marry simplicity with practicality is woven into the DNA of Seoul’s top emerging labels like MargeSherwood and Stand Oil. Sherwood’s slouchy, minimalist totes and mini baguette bags are chicly understated but still highly functional. According to Stand Oil’s Head of Brand Communications Stella Jo, balancing “functionality with structural beauty” is a core tenet of the brand’s design perspective.

This no-frills design approach feels perfectly timed to the current moment when so many people want to exude “quiet luxury.” But people also want to be able to do that at a fraction of the price. Enter K-accessory brands: Osoi’s belted Brocle purse is only $450 compared to its thousands-more equivalents from The Row and Prada, while influencers have raved about MargeSherwood’s Soft Boston bag as a cost-friendly alternative to the likes of Miu Miu and Fendi. As Europe’s legacy labels, frontrunners in the luxury space, suffer from a major buying slump, Korean brands are taking advantage of, and redefining, the lower-end luxury space. “Korean brands’ pricing architecture feels refreshing, offering customers the chance to make fun, impulse purchases without sacrificing style or quality,” says SSENSE’s Buying Director Isla Lynch.

And it’s not just handbags that are leading K-fashion’s ascent in the Western mainstream. N.Y.C-based designer Jinsol Woois paving the way for South Korean jewelry brands with his punk-inspired jewelry line OHTNYC, worn on everyone from aespa and IVE to Doja Cat, and even ripped off by Forever 21. His brand’s celebrity clientele feeds into the U.S.’s ever-growing obsession with Korean culture, something that’s playing no small role in K-fashion’s rise. “[Korean accessory brands] are being accepted by K-pop stars, and now, they’re being presented in tandem with the culture,” he says. “Korean culture feels like it’s the new it thing.”

What’s historically held K-fashion clothing brands from thriving stateside is the country’s rigorous beauty standards; its focus on petite sizing, especially, has deterred global shoppers, myself included, from fully embracing it just yet. Accessories are the perfect middle ground for those who want to indulge in K-apparel without having to compromise, as there are fewer limitations in size and silhouettes, and, as Woo says, they can do it “without having to follow Korean beauty standards.”

This is good news for me — I struggle to squeeze into a Korean XL, if that’s even available. Now, I tend to my garden of Korean accessories. Stand Oil’s chocolate-y bowling bag makes a recurring cameo in my handbag rotation, and OHTNYC’s Sentinel Utility necklace served me well during my friend’s witch coven-themed birthday party, and hopefully soon, for NYFW, no tailoring needed.