HyeJin Han, known simply as “Han” in the fashion world, comes from Seoul, where one sunny day on her way home from high school, she was stopped by a talent scout. Ever since that day, her trips home are along far more circuitous paths. Signed to a local agency, she modeled through high school and diligently enrolled in college in spite of her hectic modeling schedule. “I majored in Sports Marketing. I dunno, don’t ask me why,” she says. Predictably, after a year, she found studying “so boring,” and soon decided on a full-throttle pursuit of her accidental career.
“I couldn’t imagine modeling in Korea,” she readily admits. She knew she would have to travel to explore larger markets. It was during this past spring and summer collections, her second season on the scene, that she officially left her footprint on the high fashion catwalk. She walked for many collections, including Dolce and Gabbana, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Roberto Cavalli, Lagerfeld Gallery, Yves Saint Laurent, Chloe and Marc Jacobs. With a high profile campaign shot by Craig McDean for Anna Molinari under her belt, she has since moved to New York City, leaving her family and boyfriend of five years back in Korea. “I get lonely but I stay so busy I don’t have time to think about it,” she says. A pensive introvert at heart, she often analyzes her role in a business dedicated to all things shallow. “It’s funny, sometimes in castings I feel like a product but this is the job,” she adds. One day Han would like to write about her experiences in the business. “Maybe I’ll call my book The Angel Wears Gap!”