Jin Kay - In Praise of Shadows 2012



New York, July 10, 2012 – Jin Kay is proud to present his first collection in New York City. The pre-fall women’s ready-to-wear collection is inspired by the book In Praise of Shadows and it has been recently distinguished with the 2012 Designer of the Year Award from Parsons The New School for Design in New York.

This pre-fall women’s ready-to-wear collection is inspired by the book In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki. The book was written in the 1930’s and it compares the definition of beauty between East and West. While the Western World celebrates the beauty that’s exposed and revealed, the East rejoices everything that is hidden, quiet and mysterious.  This collection is a compositional analysis of all those ephemeral elements and it is an exploration of the diverse and unique qualities of shadows.



Some shades in the collection are multiplied and distorted by the reflecting surface, and sometimes they can seem to have contradictory qualities. They can appear to be heavy and fragile, obscure and light, organic and rectilinear, solid and porous. All these different qualities create compelling compositions of depth, light and monochromatic hues.

The color scheme of the collection is based in a limited palette of black tones, with an emphasis on lightness, transparency, and intricate details. Black can be defined as a color that does not create or mirror any light. It absorbs all the light around and it enhances the pure study of shadows. Meticulous detailing is subdued and integral to the nature of the fabrics being assembled, rather than exaggerated.

Fashion Designer, Jin Kay (Jin Woo Kim) was born and raised in South Korea. During his early years in Seoul, Busan, and Long Island he developed a creative sensibility that is rooted in a very conceptual and poetic design philosophy. His appreciation for art and design evolved and expanded after relocating to the highly competitive cultural scene of New York City.

Jin Kay

Schema, is a greek word, meaning shape, structure, pattern, or plan. Focusing on the dark and distorted, SONO DRS 2012 F/W collection executes the purity and integrity of avant-garde design, through a juxtaposition of structure and fluidity. Boundaries of schema are pushed and explored without straying from the designer's commitment to wearability.

SONO DRS

SHIN, a dramatic knitwear line based in NYC.  Designer Shinwon Yoon was nominated for the Gen Arts Styles International Fashion Designer award in 2008 and launched her line in 2009.  In just a few years, her sophisticated collection has been picked up by the cutting edge Oak NYC store.




She worked for an architectural firm for 3 years in Seoul, Korea.  Then she moved to New York and went to FIT for one year.  When she first graduated she interned at Zach Posen, and Three as Four and then she started her own line.

Shinwon Yoon

Spring/Summer 2013 Ready-To-Wear Photo By Simon Armstrong

AS winner of the prestigious Vauxhall Fashion Scout Merit Award, this season was Heohwan Simulation's time to shine. Established by Korean-born Hwan Heo just two years ago in 2010, the confidence and attention to detail in every look was impressive for a label in such early stages of infancy.

Currently in the third season of a ten-year vision - where each collection is inspired by Heo’s critical viewpoint of the history of fashion – today’s show was the amalgamation of a good few decades: Sixties shift dresses, Eighties Alaia-like perforated leather panels, and Nineties androgyny by way of oversized silhouettes, dropped shoulders and precision-cut tailoring.



2012 S/S collection

These references were neatly pulled together by what has become something of a trademark – a multitude a textural contrasts. Perspex appliqués and leather panelling paired with floaty silks imbued the collection with depth, and evoked an overall feeling of tough femininity that was certainly the most successful element and lasting impression of the show.

This young label showed today that it is a worthy successor to the likes of William Tempest, Hermione de Paula, and David Koma – all previous winners of the award. We look forward to seeing it develop its identity further as it moves towards its fourth season in February.

Hwan Heo

A/W 2012 collection 'Interpretation of alter ego in unconsciousness'

This collection is indicative of the concept through observation of two different selves of human. One is true self, other is repressed another self of human caused by external pressure in this modern society and this repressed self can be expressed through unconscious. In this unconscious, there seems to be no rules, moralities set by the society and are the only place were the repressed human’s desire can convey itself.



And the energy of these repressed desires are coming into ‘substitute activities’ such as dreams and parapraxis, which are expressed in the unconscious. And these energies could also be transmitted into creative activities. As a result, these creative activities can be metaphor of human’s true desire. With this in mind, this collection was derived from these creative activities to find another self of pattern cutting and the concept of this collection can be seen in two methodologies.



one is 'Alter ego of pattern cutting' to replace garment patterns into the place which is not supposed to belong to them and other one is 'Imaginarium of pattern cutting' to show juxtaposition of unfamiliar and unexpected meeting of garment patterns. these concepts create new silhouette and also give new meanings to garment pattern.



The Korean designer, Byungmun Seo was born in Seoul and after working for menswear brand 'Series' of Fnc Kolon, He moved to London where he attended London college of fashion for his Master.

His collections encapsulate a measured study of pattern cutting and a mixture of textures in the mood of darkness and also his work is harmoniously characterized by a poetic mentality with a juxtaposition of rough and refined silhouette to show multiple expressions of his identity. Byungmun Seo is always obsessive about depicting human's nature creating a story and then interpret the story in his work. It is to derive a new concept from the interpretation and apply it to the development of design.

Byung mun Seo