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Soorhee Rhee

Profession

BA Womenswear Alum

College

London College of Fashion

Person Type

Alumni

Soorhee Rhee - Graduate Collection, BA Womenswear. Photo - Soorhee (@design_soorhee). Model - Kathy Qi (@bolddreamermeng).

Biography

Can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about what you do?

I’m Soorhee (Jaehwa Rhee), I graduated from BA Womenswear at LCF in 2018 and my nationality is South Korean. Before LCF I studied Fibre Art at a fine art university in Korea. I now work for Polish fashion group LPP S.A. as junior strategy designer in the creative director’s team.

I had experience in fine art fields such as exhibitions and selling artwork before LCF life, but I had a lot of chances for more diverse fashion experiences while studying. I participated in fashion design competitions (and won prizes). In addition to this, I achieved drawing exhibition, showroom, catwalk show etc.

What have you been working on since finishing your course?

In the middle of my graduate year, LPP S.A. which I have been working for, met with LCF students and offered me a scholarship and internship opportunity in HQ. Just after graduating from LCF, I came to Poland and started my career in the creative director’s team. After 6 months of internship, the creative director proposed me a full-time employee offer and I accepted it. So as I mentioned, I have been working for LPP S.A. as junior strategy designer. As a right arm of the creative director, I have been handling part of the business issues; sustainability, branding, marketing, strategy direction, and also design works such as concept development, new collection proposals, overview and feedback for special capsule collections; Unisex, Functional, Athleisure etc.

Did you always know you wanted to pursue a career in fashion?

I wouldn’t say it should be a FASHION career. There is no border between different art/design fields. Among them, I selected ‘fashion designer’ because clothing is an artwork that stays nearest with audiences. Besides, fashion is not just designing clothes. To design good clothes, designers should understand not only fashion knowledge, but also all of the latest social issues and strong ability to analyse the data to build a clear direction. For that reason, I always face new challenges and it makes me want to pursue a career in fashion, I think.

How have you maintained your creative practice in the midst of the pandemic?

I suggested some collection proposals for COVID-19 pandemic to the creative director and it proceeded and got satisfied outcomes. I think it is one of the most exciting activities as a designer to read and react to the situation in a creative way when an unexpected issue happens to the world.

Any exciting upcoming projects you can tell us about?

There will be 2nd and 3rd Unisex Functional collection of RESERVED (one of the fashion brands in LPP S.A.) in 2021. As a founder of the Unisex line of RESERVED, I’m looking forward to see the upcoming collections in the store.

What are your plans for the next few years? Where would you like to see yourself professionally?

When I think about my career, the most important things are, 1) the Direction and philosophy of Brand/Company should be well-matched to what I lay weight on, and 2) I can support and help them by what I can do my best. For these reasons, I’m still happy to work for this company, but who knows?

What attracted you to London College of Fashion?

I love the curriculum at LCF, in which students could learn what they will need to do in the real fashion industry. Moreover, if you mastered the technique of fashion, you will have a chance to show your creativity in a variety of ways through the course.

Why did you decide to study BA Womenswear?

I needed to know and learn about fashion from basic level to professional level. And I noticed that I could learn all of what I had to know through BA Womenswear.

What did you enjoy the most about the course?

Internally, I really enjoyed talking with tutors about my work. I always could get different opinions from them and it was absolutely one of the most valuable feedback to update my work and ability.

And participating in the competitions was quite joyful as well.

Can you tell us a bit about your favourite project completed on the course?

I think that MUSE Project which I had in my 2nd year. I usually design something based on my interests. But for the project, each group of students had a local artist as a muse and had to build concept and design clothes for the needs of the muse. It was quite fresh and challenge for me. Also, the outcome was very satisfying and it was a good chance to explore what I hadn’t tried before.

Best advice you received from a lecturer/tutor during your time at LCF?

“Quality than Quantity.” It's advice from a tutor when I couldn’t focus on the idea development and just made new samples over and over again. He told me about his experience and let me think about the whole process of my working process. After that comment, I could focus on my project much clearer.

What advice would you give to potential students who would like to enrol on this course?

Please try to know clearly what you want to achieve through the course. They are ready to give you help and support in a diverse way. But If you don’t know what sort of “question” you want to ask them, you won’t get what they could do for you.