Photography by Joss McKinley
Photography by Joss McKinley
“My parents’ education style introduced me to design,” Choi says, noting that they felt she would learn more by spending time in art galleries, theaters, and museums than books alone. In 2004, she visited a Salvador Dalí exhibition at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul; aged 10 at the time, Choi saw clothing as little more than a utilitarian necessity. “That was eye opening,” she says, recalling the surrealist ensembles on display. For the first time, garments were a conduit for human emotion. In the years following, art continued to fuel Choi; institutions like the Daelim Museum (a contemporary photography and design museum that displays emerging and established artists from around the world) became the center of her life in Seoul.
“Contemporary art is more interesting to me because it’s not trying to capture visual realities like classical styles,” Choi elaborates. “The color stories, shapes, and composition are based on intuition.” Works ranging from late Italian painter Giorgio Morandi’s metaphysical still-lifes to French photographer Matthieu Lavanchy’s moody images of shadows and a photo series on garment pockets by Dutch artists Maurice Scheltens and Liesbeth Abbenes inform Choi’s aesthetic, which gets its dynamism from her fixation on movement.
Photography by Jordan Trey
Photography by Jordan Trey
“Life often looks like a performance to me,” she muses. “Almost like a muted dance.” In her fall 2019 collection, body language dictates shape. A twisted draping technique strewn across a taupe, bodycon jersey top is informed by one’s arm moving up against the torso and hand turning forward in the manner of welcoming another into a space. “I’m imagining clothes as a second skin,” Choi explains. “What if the garment turned inside out because of this hand movement? What would it look like?” Elsewhere, collars on drop-shoulder shirting and light knits are replaced with loops of fabric that can be styled as hoods or scarves, while bias cuts, center seams, and multi-layered, slashed sleeves with frayed edges accentuate one’s gestures.
While her silhouettes are simple and unpretentious, they’re duly exacting. Choi’s careful, considered choices—a welcomed reprieve to the flashy, rushed design dominating the Instagram-age—demand decisiveness and focus. “Sometimes even after the first idea is draped, adjusted after research, and re-draped, I have to return to where I started,” she admits. “Sometimes, you have to come back after moving forward.”
Photography by Jordan Trey
Photography by Jordan Trey
After all the thinking and rethinking, Choi’s collections are ultimately an exercise in confidence. “I really believe that there’s room for young designers today,” she states when asked about fashion’s current crowded state. “I’m hoping to speak to a like-minded individuals. It’s less about reflecting my own lifestyle and more about asking how I can share my vision to make others feel stronger.”