Model Factors is a weekly column about how trend intersects with the broader world.
After producing her beloved, ’90s-inspired namesake line for a decade, Jennifer Chun was getting somewhat burned out. The method had grow to be “so routine that I wasn’t considering exterior the field anymore,” she recollects. “I might produce two seasons after which ship it. It was nearly like I used to be turning into somewhat little bit of a robotic within the course of.” Her husband and enterprise accomplice was the one who advised she rethink issues, take a break, and “not do that till you wish to once more.”
She did stints in costume design and labored for just a few sustainability-focused manufacturers, one thing that “opened my eyes to a complete totally different course of and buyer.” However it wasn’t till lockdown hit that she began to dream about creating a brand new line of her personal. Chun was watching Okay-dramas throughout the pandemic, after having grown up on the style (she remembers renting them on VHS tapes at Korean grocery shops again within the day.) “I noticed that even being Korean American and having grown up within the Midwest most of my life, my cultural roots are fairly deep. It is perhaps since you’re so insulated; within the Midwest, you’re one of many few Asian households,” she says.
After studying an article a few pure dyer in Seoul (South Korea has a longstanding custom of the craft), Chun and her mom, who was remoted in L.A. attributable to Covid restrictions, started corresponding along with her. When Chun lastly made a visit to Seoul, the dyer let her help and be taught concerning the course of. That have led her to create a line, Uniformed, the place she works with Korean artisans and makes use of repurposed and deadstock supplies and pure dyes. Whereas she’d primarily labored in wovens earlier than, Chun preferred the concept of incorporating knitwear “as a result of not one of the yarns are wasted. You don’t have all this leftover cloth being thrown away. You’re utilizing precisely what you want.”
One standout of her debut assortment is a blazer impressed by the college uniforms in Okay-dramas and developed with a suiting patternmaker in Manhattan’s Garment District. Its sleeves are lined with brightly striped saekdong cloth, woven by artisans in Busan. (It’s the identical cloth that strains the sleeves of a hanbok, the standard Korean garment.) On the left facet of the blazer, the place a college title tag would usually be pinned, “Uniformed” is embroidered in Korean on a bit of ribbon. The piece has been a sellout merchandise, with DMs about it pouring in earlier than Chun even opened her on-line store.
An identical knit set and clutch with iris patterns have been impressed by a classic shirt of her grandmother’s, which recollects the sample on plastic playing playing cards known as hwatu playing cards. In Korea, irises are a logo of hope, which was additionally the theme of this pandemic-born assortment. The preppy facet of the road comes out in a rugby sweater, modeled after one Chun borrowed from her dad within the ’90s, however unexpectedly constituted of merino wool, and in box-pleated miniskirts.
Chun’s heritage is embedded in each piece. Her wrap skirts drew on the customized of pojagi, or patchworking leftover cloth scraps collectively as a approach to wrap items or meals containers. Dam yo (blanket) scarves, that are filled with repurposed and upcycled down cloth, have been primarily based on the standard Korean blankets she grew up utilizing. And she or he made a degree of working with an all-Asian staff on the lookbook, which was shot by Peter Ash Lee. When she confirmed the ensuing s to the dyer, she instructed Chun, “‘You revered Korea and also you made it look true to our cultural heritage.’ And that was the most important praise, as a result of that’s what I actually wished to do.”
Every part was made in small batches to remove waste, one thing that has grow to be a promoting level for the model. When Chun instructed a buddy that she would solely make a restricted quantity of things primarily based on how a lot cloth and yarn she had left, she advised, “‘Why do not you label that in your clothes?’ So it’s thrilling, as a result of individuals will see, ‘I bought the second made out of 10, as a result of the primary one was the pattern.’”
As with many sustainable manufacturers, there isn’t a plan for wild, full-throttle development. However Chun plans to increase, judiciously, into equipment and homeware, and work with extra artisans throughout Asia. “And if any person has leftover cloth or yarn,” she says brightly, “then I’ll use it.”
One of many highlights of the method: Chun lastly bought to make a visit to Korea along with her mom, who gathered a bunch of childhood buddies who’d heard about what they have been doing. “It was essentially the most lovely factor. All of them pulled collectively and introduced their used hanboks,” she says. The ladies shared the reminiscences behind the clothes earlier than providing them to Chun to repurpose for her designs. “It was nearly to the purpose the place I used to be like, ‘I don’t wish to reduce up any of this!’ However they don’t really feel that means. All of them wish to be part of it.”
Supply: elle
