Gwangju Chic

Photos by Karly Pierre

Translated by Karina Prananto

For three years, Grandetoile boutique has been keeping its Gwangju clientele chic. Owner Kang Subin gave us brief insight into the trends that are influencing local style.

Gwangju News (GN): Please describe the style of the clothes in your shop.
Kang Subin (SB): We are currently selling clothing of popular brands of designers from abroad as well as famous designers locally. We are investing broadly not only in scale, but also in distribution. So we are selling various clothing and accessories much more extensively than other similar stores.

GN: What are the names of the brands that you sell?
SB: I have introduced several brands, which are especially popular in our shop, because we are selling so many brands. Famous brands from Europe such as Alexander McQueen or Alexander Wang, and even Rick Owens, Montclair, Hermés are sold in our store. We also sell brands, which are popular in the U.S. such as Theory, Isabel Marant, and Equipment, among others.

GN: What are some popular fashion trends now in Gwangju?
SB: Currently, people like unique patterns and mix and match style. Compared to before when people liked wearing skinny jeans, now they like more loose slacks and wide pants.

GN: What is your best selling brand?
SB: Here we sell our own brand Etoile as well as other brands like Equipment and Burberry. Equipment has no official store in Gwangju, and many of our customers visit our store or contact us through SNS.

Grandetoile has two locations:
1009-6 Pungam-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju 광주광역시 서구 풍암동 1009-6번지 (Main store)
48-1 Dongmyeong-dong, Dong-gu, Gwangju 광주광역시 동구 동명동 48-1번지

                                                        1009-6 Pungam-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju