The South Korean designer works with body movements to transpose architecture into garments
South Korean designer Sun Mu Lee was hip-hop dancing when his t-shirt ended up being torn apart because of the repetitive movements. This made him determined to create moveable clothes that could easily be worn by dancers.
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“I want to use Covid as an inspiration for my next collection – but not by making masks or using this pandemic in the first degree.”
After a BA in fashion design in South Korea, Lee moved to London and enrolled in the Fashion Graduate Diploma course at Central Saint Martins for a year. He graduated in 2017 but decided to strengthen his design skills at CSM’s MA Fashion Design course. He presented his graduate collection in February, just in time before the COVID-19 outbreak prevented designers from showcasing their collections to the public. The experience still represents a source of inspiration for him. “I want to use Covid as an inspiration for my next collection – but not by making masks or using this pandemic in the first degree,” clarified Lee.
His inspiration comes from various cultural scenes, but architecture, dance, and body movements remain central to his artistic development. “I’m always struggling with my starting point,” said Lee. “But those are part of my permanent concepts and my main sources of inspiration.” While his desire to become an architect has now changed, Lee still prioritises dimensions and volumes in his work as a fashion designer. He works directly on mannequins and uses paper to create a rendering of his concept.
“My strong point is doing 3D work,” said Lee. “I like to see the clothes changing thanks to my work, see how they look in real life. It creates harmony.” The designer developed simple yet complex garments for his graduate collection, dubbed ‘Geometric Rave’. “I know it’s a bit of a paradox, but I don’t consider them minimalistic,” he explained.
“My clothes are very fashionable, so I’m thinking about how I can transpose this impactful design in a way that actually sells.”
Bright colours that remind of disco dancing – teal, red, green, purple, and orange – contrast with more neutral bases such as black, navy blue, and grey. Lee worked only with a few fabrics, chief among them nylon, mousseline, and jersey. Two tailored looks made it in the collection but still had more relaxed details. “The tailored jackets were very stiff, so I mixed them with jersey to soften them up a bit,” said the designer. An array of belted jumpsuits was at the centre of the collection, mixing the opposite ideas of freedom and restraint. “My clothes are very fashionable, so I’m thinking about how I can transpose this impactful design in a way that actually sells,” explained Lee.
He added, “Every time I walk in the street, I look at the architecture and imagine how it could be transposed into garments. I want to make moveable clothes that have an architectural feeling.”
Lee had to make some adjustments to meet both commercial and artistic purposes; his graduate collection was very well received, but his tutors worried about its wearable aspect. “The MA Fashion Design course is really about making real designers,” said Lee. “I followed their advice and adjusted it, but it’s still a very personal project.” Even if CSM now “feels like home” to Lee, starting in London has not been easy. “I thought everything was just too much,” he explained. “I had this stereotype that art school students were free and had no rules, but the truth is, they do their work.”
Always one of the first ones to arrive in the studio and the last ones to leave, the designer had very strict rules regarding his work. One of his tutors even told him that he pictured him more in an office than in a studio. “I still need to study the artistic side of my work more,” he admitted. “However, the MA course really made me more mature, not only in my design, but as a human being.”
“Never give up. Always work your way up.”
Now that he has graduated, Lee would only give one piece of advice to new students: “Never give up. Always work your way up,” he said. The designer is working on his own brand, which will launch as soon as his second collection is wrapped up. The inspiration remains the same as for his graduate collection, although he has infused some newly developed ideas in his creative process.
About to enter the fashion industry on his own, Lee admits that he does not feel completely ready for this next step. “Every time I start a project, I don’t feel ready, but if I think about that, I can’t start it – so I just do it,” he said. His next collection will focus on parametric details that will be featured throughout his designs. Lee concluded, “I don’t care if my brand is big or small for now, I just want to do what I love.”
