Yuhan’s collection focuses on the contrast between outside and inside, those parts of ourselves that we keep private. It’s a theme she began to explore in her BA collection, inspired by the ritual of laundry, exposing, layer by layer, the inner world of women. Curtains became her MA collection’s central idea, an object that determines how much we reveal. A barrier between inside and out was reflected in her designs in cut-outs, knots and unexpected layers. Yuhan wanted her clothes to be the metaphorical curtain that determines “how we express the body, how much skin one shows to people, what a woman looks like in front of others. It’s like a private room in public. I wanted to look at how women historically dress indoors and outdoors.”
The collection’s essence is an intense, concentrated femininity, but to call it delicate wouldn’t exactly be accurate. “In Asia, we don’t show that much skin and for me, womenswear and being powerful isn’t just about being sexy. Sometimes you don’t need to show the skin, just show the shape of the body,” says Yuhan. “That’s what I feel womenswear is for me, Asian femininity in contrast with Western culture. I always try to express a kind of beauty where there’s a weirdness and softness,” she adds. “It’s delicate, but in a different way. Softness can still be a power.”