Ahead of our LCFMA17 MA Fashion Design Technology Menswear catwalk show on Thursday 6 January (watch it live streamed here), we talk to MA Fashion Design Technology Menswear student Soo Jin Cho who told us about her final project, the inspiration behind her collection, and her time at LCF.
MA Menswear editorial shoot: Soo Jin Cho Cover Image: Michiel Meewis, Hair: Waka, Visage: Dora, Assistants: Christiana, Jay and Matteo, Model: Mauritz @ Select
My final collection… is based on French Literature, during the period of romanticism – it represents methods of synesthesia in literature. The collection is a translation of art history, into commercial fashion. My tailoring method is based on changing the centre of axis. In my collection, the centre is not from the neck – it’s from the head, so you can wear the garments either from the head or from the original neck point and it will change the centre and the silhouette.
I got many detailing ideas from the romanticism period and I found a brilliant pattern idea on a hat that women wore. I brought this to the hood of my jackets, which feature many variations of very sophisticated details and pleats. A lot of my collection features hand work which many people consider not to be commercial, but I think my work shows how this can be brought to commercial fashion.
Before LCF… I studied womenswear for four years at Sejong University in South Korea. My final collection there had menswear potential and my tutor gave me guidelines for coming to the UK and studying menswear. I like changing things all the time – I think that as a designer you should always be able to change and move faster than other people.
My top tips for students are… know who you are and what you are good at – you don’t have a long time to do your final collection. Push yourself in what you care about most. Love your own work and enjoy yourself!
I chose menswear at LCF… because I liked that one of the course aims is to show students how to negotiate more commercial fashion, and LCF specifically has a great curriculum. I’m stronger in art fashion and creating more visual garments, so I wanted to learn how to translate that into commercial lines in a technical way.
The highlight of the course… is being in London and what you are surrounded by. LCF students have a good attitude towards working with other people. On the course you get to know other people’s work and learn from our peers by seeing what people are doing outside your own specific area.
The biggest challenge… was time – it takes a long time to adapt to new surroundings and we start with a lot of pressure. If you are not used to this kind of atmosphere, you have to try to fit in as fast as possible so you can push yourself.
The best thing about London… is that it’s very different to South Korea. I loved learning from different people and different cultures. London has everything – it’s a mixture of past and present and I think that’s the biggest thing. British culture is very good at looking at how to translate the past to the modern.
My work in a few words… visual, emotion, subvert, fashion for art and art for fashion.
My muse… always changes – I see people and it starts from there. I love to go to the National Portrait Gallery and at the moment I am inspired by romantic writers. For this project it was the French writer Arthur Rimbaud – I love his words, as well as Baudelaire’s.
In the future… I want to create new visual fashion. My MA Menswear course was very intense and has helped me to explore the industry. I like creating new things – whatever it is, fashion is a tool that I have to create anything – menswear, womenswear or childrenswear. What I’ve learnt at LCF is that research is very important for designers and artists to get more depth in their work and the course helped me recognise this.