Doo.Ri Chung may look laid back and easy breezy in her all-white summer uniform of Gap tee and Hudson jeans, but don't let her casual appearance fool you. The woman is as sharply focused as a laser beam.
The target in her sights on the day we met? Decorations for her spring 2006 collection, which she'll unveil to the public in just a few days' time.
"I haven't really done the decorations yet, I'm still in the process of making [the line]," the diminutive designer explained with a rueful smile as she leaned on a glass-topped counter at Tinsel Trading (47 West 38th Street; 212-730-1030; http://www.tinseltrading.com/) surrounded by an overwhelming, if beautifully presented, selection of ribbons, passementeries, fabric flowers and vintage metal "tinsel" ribbon (which is where the store gets its name) - all arranged by category and color with trim, tassels, tiebacks and appliqués in one room and fabric, flowers, beads and buttons in another.
It was like being in a textile version of a candy store (much of the merch was displayed in antique apothecary cabinets), and we could see why the third-generation, family run garment district emporium had such a huge following among designers from Heatherette and Betsey Johnson to Marc Jacobs and Zac Posen, all of whom have struck fashion gold - "Eureka! Grommets!" - while perusing the racks of shocking pink pom poms and filigreed metal lace trim.
"So far I have about 15 pieces and I've got a lot more coming in," Chung explained of her latest collection, which is rendered in her signature stretch jersey, along with cotton and linen, embellished with embroidery and Swarovski crystal used as a quilt stitch ("That's still experimental, I have yet to see whether it actually works or not. But I'm positive it should.")
We had no doubt that it would. After all, since graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1995 (where she was named Designer of the Year), the Korean-born, New Jersey-bred Chung has done quite well trusting her instincts. After a brief stint at Banana Republic Menswear ("I realized very quickly I'm not cut out for the repetition of corporate life") Chung spent six years working at lead designer for Geoffrey Beene.
"It was a whole new world," she said. "It wasn't about administrative stuff and faxing your counterpart in China so much as it was about the creative aspect of it. You're paid to drape and sketch and it's just amazing."
She left Beene in 2001 and opened the Soho store, Klee, where she refined the draped jersey silhouettes for which she has become known (she shuttered Klee in 2003 after officially launching her line).
"I'm not a designer that likes to construct, I'm a designer that likes to deconstruct by eliminating all lines and as many seams as possible," she explained of her technique. "That's one of the reasons I'm always drawn to jersey."
FWD pointed out that the 32-year-old always seems to be drawn to the other Jersey, as well (Chung still designs her line in the basement of her parent's dry cleaning store) and to showing off a woman's back, as witnessed by many of her tops and dresses, which are cut decorously high in front and how-low-can-you-go in back.
"I think that a design has to be three-dimensional so that whether you're looking at a woman from the side or the front or the back, there should always be a surprise," she explained. Another lesson learned at the master's knee?
"Mr. Beene, he's always fond of exits," she agreed with a laugh. "It's so great for a woman to leave and leave an impression, especially when it's a stunning back."
Chung herself is typically covered, front and back, in a less-than-stunning white t-shirt and jeans.
"I'm very Gap, unfortunately," she said with a self-deprecating shrug as we headed into the next room so she could show FWD some colorful vintage millinery feathers ($25 each) she had used as pins in her fall 2005 show.
"When I go out, of course, part of the business is to promote myself, so I think it's very important for me to wear my own designs. But when I'm working, it's got to be about comfort."
Well, the anti-fashion jeans-and-tee uniform seemed to work for designers like Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez.
"I feel like men can get away with that," she replied before greeting customer service specialist Linda Ashton. "But because I'm a woman dressing women, [clients] see me and I think they're sort of like, ‘Oh, is that what you're wearing?' There's always that contradiction or hypocrisy that exits and you can't avoid it. I mean, I try to look professional, but I'm definitely more comfortable working in obscurity in my sweatpants."
Well, you kind of blew the obscurity-in-sweatpants thing by appearing in "Seamless," Douglas Keeve's documentary about the 2004 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award, wouldn't you say?
Chung laughed and nodded. "That was nerve wracking," she said of being filmed every day for four months. "I didn't like it at all. I can't stand looking at photos of myself, never mind seeing myself walking and talking. It was just too weird. But stylistically, I thought the film was just beautiful."
And what does she have to say about the criticism that certain elements of the timeline were fudged to make for a more compelling film (such as the fire that destroyed her parent's store, which actually occurred a month after the Fashion Fund competition had ended)?
"When I see the way he presented the interview and the committee and all that stuff towards the end, it made much more sense to me because that was the climactic aspect of it," she replied. "The rest was sort of follow-up. So I understood that from his point of view. But there was no manipulation with the content itself. His way of [editing] it just told a better story."
And while Proenza Schouler walked away with the $200,000 prize, Chung was fairly sanguine, having already won the $10,000 Woolite Fashion Future Grant in 2003 and the $20,000 Ecco Domani 2004 Fashion Foundation Award.
"Those grants are so important," she said while examining a pale peach fabric gardenia ($15), which she planned to buy for future inspiration. "But for me, just to have been part of that whole [CFDA/Vogue] thing was so incredible. I always sort of feel like an outsider within fashion because I'm so new to this - it's a tight circle of people who know people - and being part of that, I got to meet other designers and people like Sally Singer and it's sort of jarring, like, ‘Oh, they're real people.'"
So she and Anna Wintour are now good buds?
Chung shot us an "as if" look and, after ogling a selection of vintage metal lace ($35 to $150 a yard), she pulled a box of colorful felt balls from a floor-to-ceiling shelf stacked with boxes - each of which was stapled with a sample of the merch inside, from fruit and vegetable appliqués to carved wooden beads to elaborate diamanté clips.
"I can't help it, I'm still awed," Chung said of Vogue's infamous editrix. "I just find her so stylish and so many people have such a renowned respect for her. I mean, I understand it because it's the same sort of respect that Mr. Beene commands and if you can work toward a career that commands that kind of respect, gosh, you've done something right."
She paused to pick through the box of baubles, which looked like woolly jawbreakers.
"I love these, aren't they fabulous," she said, holding a ball aloft.
Indeed they were. What might she use them for?
"Big necklaces," she replied without hesitation as she mulled over the color choices, which included pea green, brown and hot pink. "Maybe I should just stick to the teal."
She placed 8 large teal balls ($2 each) on the counter before unearthing a small Ziploc bag of 18 smaller felt balls in the same shade (60 cents each), which she added to her growing pile of loot.
Back at the wall of boxes, she found some black and navy raffia appliqués - circa 1945, from Italy - that ranged from a tiny bud-with-leaf motif ($2 each) to larger daisy-shaped designs ($3.50 each).
"Ooh, look at this one!" Chung squealed, holding up a huge fan-shaped doodad that resembled a flamenco dancer's headpiece. "This would be great for the [model's] hair if she's blond. It's so beautiful." She brought the $20 item up to the counter.
So what's the main color theme of her spring collection?
"Nude, like L'eggs pantyhose," she said with a chuckle. "I just went in that direction, I don't know why. All the chiffons, cottons and linens I chose kind of fell in either the darker or lighter side of that and [now] looking at the collection I realize that it's just very...pantyhose."
FWD suggested she call it the D.R Pantyhose Collection and put a plastic egg on each seat at the show filled with swatches of her signature jersey fabric.
"Doo.Ri eggs!" she crowed. Chung's attention wandered to a case of adorably whimsical Pipe Cleaner Pets ($7.50 each), and the salesman rooted around in a box on the floor to find the giraffe and monkey the designer thought especially cute.
"I'll take that brown monkey," she told him, pointing to a thumb-sized critter in the glass vitrine. "I like how he's sitting. He looks like a Buddha monkey." Alas, said monkey was the only one left and after Chung considered and rejected a goofy blue gorilla ("I think I like the other monkey better; he kind of looks scary") the salesclerk happily sold her the display model.
He also sold her a $15 foot-long black silk tassel ("It could be great on a scarf; I'm going to do a scarf with black lace") before Ashton brought over several spools of tubular mesh ribbon and stuffed a pencil into one end to demonstrate how it expanded.
"Oh wow, wouldn't that be great to put beads in?" said Chung. "How much is that?"
"$4.25 a yard," answered Ashton.
"I'll take a yard of this color," the designer said, handing the spool of (what else?) teal ribbon to Ashton. "Everything looks good in teal." She decided to get a yard in copper, as well.
"So am I good?" Chung said, to no one in particular, while waiting to be rung up (total: $106.80).
Well, let's see... A critically acclaimed clothing line, three high-profile grant nominations, a starring role in the year's hottest documentary, spreads in every major fashion magazine, an MTV VMA plug courtesy of Desperate Housewife
Eva Longoria and a highly anticipated runway show looming on the horizon?
You're good.
http://www.fashionwiredaily.com
The target in her sights on the day we met? Decorations for her spring 2006 collection, which she'll unveil to the public in just a few days' time.
"I haven't really done the decorations yet, I'm still in the process of making [the line]," the diminutive designer explained with a rueful smile as she leaned on a glass-topped counter at Tinsel Trading (47 West 38th Street; 212-730-1030; http://www.tinseltrading.com/) surrounded by an overwhelming, if beautifully presented, selection of ribbons, passementeries, fabric flowers and vintage metal "tinsel" ribbon (which is where the store gets its name) - all arranged by category and color with trim, tassels, tiebacks and appliqués in one room and fabric, flowers, beads and buttons in another.
It was like being in a textile version of a candy store (much of the merch was displayed in antique apothecary cabinets), and we could see why the third-generation, family run garment district emporium had such a huge following among designers from Heatherette and Betsey Johnson to Marc Jacobs and Zac Posen, all of whom have struck fashion gold - "Eureka! Grommets!" - while perusing the racks of shocking pink pom poms and filigreed metal lace trim.
"So far I have about 15 pieces and I've got a lot more coming in," Chung explained of her latest collection, which is rendered in her signature stretch jersey, along with cotton and linen, embellished with embroidery and Swarovski crystal used as a quilt stitch ("That's still experimental, I have yet to see whether it actually works or not. But I'm positive it should.")
We had no doubt that it would. After all, since graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1995 (where she was named Designer of the Year), the Korean-born, New Jersey-bred Chung has done quite well trusting her instincts. After a brief stint at Banana Republic Menswear ("I realized very quickly I'm not cut out for the repetition of corporate life") Chung spent six years working at lead designer for Geoffrey Beene.
"It was a whole new world," she said. "It wasn't about administrative stuff and faxing your counterpart in China so much as it was about the creative aspect of it. You're paid to drape and sketch and it's just amazing."
She left Beene in 2001 and opened the Soho store, Klee, where she refined the draped jersey silhouettes for which she has become known (she shuttered Klee in 2003 after officially launching her line).
"I'm not a designer that likes to construct, I'm a designer that likes to deconstruct by eliminating all lines and as many seams as possible," she explained of her technique. "That's one of the reasons I'm always drawn to jersey."
FWD pointed out that the 32-year-old always seems to be drawn to the other Jersey, as well (Chung still designs her line in the basement of her parent's dry cleaning store) and to showing off a woman's back, as witnessed by many of her tops and dresses, which are cut decorously high in front and how-low-can-you-go in back.
"I think that a design has to be three-dimensional so that whether you're looking at a woman from the side or the front or the back, there should always be a surprise," she explained. Another lesson learned at the master's knee?
"Mr. Beene, he's always fond of exits," she agreed with a laugh. "It's so great for a woman to leave and leave an impression, especially when it's a stunning back."
Chung herself is typically covered, front and back, in a less-than-stunning white t-shirt and jeans.
"I'm very Gap, unfortunately," she said with a self-deprecating shrug as we headed into the next room so she could show FWD some colorful vintage millinery feathers ($25 each) she had used as pins in her fall 2005 show.
"When I go out, of course, part of the business is to promote myself, so I think it's very important for me to wear my own designs. But when I'm working, it's got to be about comfort."
Well, the anti-fashion jeans-and-tee uniform seemed to work for designers like Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez.
"I feel like men can get away with that," she replied before greeting customer service specialist Linda Ashton. "But because I'm a woman dressing women, [clients] see me and I think they're sort of like, ‘Oh, is that what you're wearing?' There's always that contradiction or hypocrisy that exits and you can't avoid it. I mean, I try to look professional, but I'm definitely more comfortable working in obscurity in my sweatpants."
Well, you kind of blew the obscurity-in-sweatpants thing by appearing in "Seamless," Douglas Keeve's documentary about the 2004 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award, wouldn't you say?
Chung laughed and nodded. "That was nerve wracking," she said of being filmed every day for four months. "I didn't like it at all. I can't stand looking at photos of myself, never mind seeing myself walking and talking. It was just too weird. But stylistically, I thought the film was just beautiful."
And what does she have to say about the criticism that certain elements of the timeline were fudged to make for a more compelling film (such as the fire that destroyed her parent's store, which actually occurred a month after the Fashion Fund competition had ended)?
"When I see the way he presented the interview and the committee and all that stuff towards the end, it made much more sense to me because that was the climactic aspect of it," she replied. "The rest was sort of follow-up. So I understood that from his point of view. But there was no manipulation with the content itself. His way of [editing] it just told a better story."
And while Proenza Schouler walked away with the $200,000 prize, Chung was fairly sanguine, having already won the $10,000 Woolite Fashion Future Grant in 2003 and the $20,000 Ecco Domani 2004 Fashion Foundation Award.
"Those grants are so important," she said while examining a pale peach fabric gardenia ($15), which she planned to buy for future inspiration. "But for me, just to have been part of that whole [CFDA/Vogue] thing was so incredible. I always sort of feel like an outsider within fashion because I'm so new to this - it's a tight circle of people who know people - and being part of that, I got to meet other designers and people like Sally Singer and it's sort of jarring, like, ‘Oh, they're real people.'"
So she and Anna Wintour are now good buds?
Chung shot us an "as if" look and, after ogling a selection of vintage metal lace ($35 to $150 a yard), she pulled a box of colorful felt balls from a floor-to-ceiling shelf stacked with boxes - each of which was stapled with a sample of the merch inside, from fruit and vegetable appliqués to carved wooden beads to elaborate diamanté clips.
"I can't help it, I'm still awed," Chung said of Vogue's infamous editrix. "I just find her so stylish and so many people have such a renowned respect for her. I mean, I understand it because it's the same sort of respect that Mr. Beene commands and if you can work toward a career that commands that kind of respect, gosh, you've done something right."
She paused to pick through the box of baubles, which looked like woolly jawbreakers.
"I love these, aren't they fabulous," she said, holding a ball aloft.
Indeed they were. What might she use them for?
"Big necklaces," she replied without hesitation as she mulled over the color choices, which included pea green, brown and hot pink. "Maybe I should just stick to the teal."
She placed 8 large teal balls ($2 each) on the counter before unearthing a small Ziploc bag of 18 smaller felt balls in the same shade (60 cents each), which she added to her growing pile of loot.
Back at the wall of boxes, she found some black and navy raffia appliqués - circa 1945, from Italy - that ranged from a tiny bud-with-leaf motif ($2 each) to larger daisy-shaped designs ($3.50 each).
"Ooh, look at this one!" Chung squealed, holding up a huge fan-shaped doodad that resembled a flamenco dancer's headpiece. "This would be great for the [model's] hair if she's blond. It's so beautiful." She brought the $20 item up to the counter.
So what's the main color theme of her spring collection?
"Nude, like L'eggs pantyhose," she said with a chuckle. "I just went in that direction, I don't know why. All the chiffons, cottons and linens I chose kind of fell in either the darker or lighter side of that and [now] looking at the collection I realize that it's just very...pantyhose."
FWD suggested she call it the D.R Pantyhose Collection and put a plastic egg on each seat at the show filled with swatches of her signature jersey fabric.
"Doo.Ri eggs!" she crowed. Chung's attention wandered to a case of adorably whimsical Pipe Cleaner Pets ($7.50 each), and the salesman rooted around in a box on the floor to find the giraffe and monkey the designer thought especially cute.
"I'll take that brown monkey," she told him, pointing to a thumb-sized critter in the glass vitrine. "I like how he's sitting. He looks like a Buddha monkey." Alas, said monkey was the only one left and after Chung considered and rejected a goofy blue gorilla ("I think I like the other monkey better; he kind of looks scary") the salesclerk happily sold her the display model.
He also sold her a $15 foot-long black silk tassel ("It could be great on a scarf; I'm going to do a scarf with black lace") before Ashton brought over several spools of tubular mesh ribbon and stuffed a pencil into one end to demonstrate how it expanded.
"Oh wow, wouldn't that be great to put beads in?" said Chung. "How much is that?"
"$4.25 a yard," answered Ashton.
"I'll take a yard of this color," the designer said, handing the spool of (what else?) teal ribbon to Ashton. "Everything looks good in teal." She decided to get a yard in copper, as well.
"So am I good?" Chung said, to no one in particular, while waiting to be rung up (total: $106.80).
Well, let's see... A critically acclaimed clothing line, three high-profile grant nominations, a starring role in the year's hottest documentary, spreads in every major fashion magazine, an MTV VMA plug courtesy of Desperate Housewife
Eva Longoria and a highly anticipated runway show looming on the horizon?
You're good.
http://www.fashionwiredaily.com
