Since Free Range opened its doors to the public last week, we’ve been introducing you to some of those ones to watch who will be exhibiting their work at the Old Truman Brewery for the next month and a half. Presenting work in the categories of fashion, art, graphics, photography and interior design, the annual exhibition offers fresh talent from a number of UK art instituitions the opportunity to have their work showcased to both industry figures and the public.
Nara Lee, a former Fashion Design student at the University of Brighton, will showcase her graduate collection as part of Free Range’s fashion week which is currently showing until Monday. Having already worked for the likes of Acne and J. W. Anderson, Lee shows herself to have a good understanding of the British fashion industry and a gift for producing designs which are both quirky and wearable, subtle and unique. She uses the words ‘beautiful oddity’ to describe the end result. Inspired by works by John Stezaker and Eva Stenram and the colour palette of a small town in South Korea, Nara’s graduate collection draws on the ideas of collage and ‘cut and paste’.We caught up with the budding designer to talk the collection and British fashion.
YOUR COLLECTION WAS CALLED ‘DISCLOSURE’, WHERE DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS NAME?
The concept I had for this collection is that a part of an object is blanked out or cut and something contrasting and unexpected is applied to it. And it looked like the contrasting part is revealed and disclosed to me. Based on that, it sort of made me think of an image of disclosure. Also, the ‘Disclosure’ could imply that a new talented designer is emerging.
CAN WE SEE ELEMENTS OF DISCLOSURE REMINISCENT THROUGHOUT?
Yes. For developing design ideas, I defined a meaning of ‘disclosure’. The meaning of ‘disclosure’ in this collection is that something unexpected pops up in the most unlikely place. With the definition of ‘disclosure’ used in this collection, I tried to bring the concept into garments. For example, I made a trench coat and the lengthened pocket bag of the coat is coming out of a slash in an unlikely spot of the coat. Another example is a skirt, the hem of which kicks out of the blanked part of contrasting panel which is attached on the skirt. These and other features are ‘disclosure’ reminiscent elements in each garment in the collection but in different ways.
YOUR COLLECTION IS AN INSPIRED REINTERPRETATION OF TWO INFLUENTIAL ART PIECES. WHAT ASPECTS OF THE PAINTINGS DID YOU INCORPORATE INTO YOUR DESIGNS?
The first thing that inspired me was contemporary collage art including collage works from John Stezaker. The collages that I looked at often blank out part of their subject, which, I feel, creates a level of abstraction that engages the imagination.
Similarly, the second art work that inspired me was ‘Drape’ series by Eva Stenram. Her ‘Drape’ series works depict a picture of a human figure that is partly hidden by curtains. Through these images, I saw a surreal aspect of a space that something unexpected breaks into a scene. From these, I wanted to replicate this phenomenon of cut and paste by reinterpreting the collage art works in terms of fashion.
COLOUR RUNS THROUGHOUT YOUR COLLECTION AS A STATEMENT FEATURE. DID THIS PALETTE COME FROM THE ART INTERPRETATION?
No, actually for the colour, I was inspired by a small old town called TongYoung in South Korea. I visited there last summer and I was fascinated with the scene and atmosphere of the town, in particular the houses that are respectively painted in different colours. There were unexpected combinations of contrasting colours. I was drawn to the random colour arrangements and juxtapositions. By observing the pictures taken of the town, I have experimented on creating a series of unexpected but beautiful colour combinations. I discovered many interesting colour arrangements within the pictures and tried out many colour combinations across the palette. To arrive at a selected palette that I instinctively find beautiful.
WHAT KIND OF WOMAN COULD WE EXPECT TO SEE WEARING YOUR COLLECTION, AND WHERE IS THE BEST PLACE TO WEAR IT?
I design for women who don’t exaggerate themselves in dressing or show off, but has a subtle, unique style. The alternative beauty that I pursue in fashion is something that can at the same time look beautiful and odd. Beautiful oddity would be the key words to represent myself as a designer. My garments can look quite quirky but still wearable and sleek. I always want to make garments that I’d like to wear every day. I think I would lose my interest in designing if my garments are only for the catwalk and not worn by people. So, I would like to recommend you to wear my garments whenever you go out, really.
DID YOU WISH TO EVOKE ANY PARTICULAR EMOTIONS UPON YOUR AUDIENCE?
I hope that my collection will give a pleasant feeling to the audience. I wanted people to feel excited with wearing my colourful garments and confident with them. It would give me a satisfaction to me as a designer if a person who always sticks to wearing black all the time would consider wearing my garments. I just want the audience to enjoy looking at my garments and wearing them.
EACH LOOK FOLLOWS UNIFORMITY, IT SEEMS YOU EXPERIMENT A LOT WITH STRUCTURE TO ACHIEVE THIS. DID YOU LOOK TO ANY OTHER DESIGNERS TO DEVELOP YOUR IDEAS FOR THIS FEATURE?
During the research period, I looked at Roberto Capucci’s works from the 50s. Mainly, I looked at how he combined various colours into one garment. The colours he used are very different from the colours I used in terms of tones. But by looking at his works, I could be more daring in combining diverse colours. Also, his garments looked very graphic to me even though they are sometimes very decorative with many elements going on in a garment. I thought that the multi-colours make the garments look very graphic even though they are quite intricate designs. Being driven from this observation, I tried to make each outfit look more graphic and linear, which would go well with the selected colour palette as I thought.
YOU HAVE GAINED EXPERIENCE AT BIG FASHION HOUSES – ACNE AND J.W ANDERSON – DO YOU HOPE TO ESTABLISH YOURSELF AS A DESIGNER FOR YOUR OWN LABEL NOW YOU HAVE GRADUATED?
While working for J.W Anderson, I found that establishing my own brand is a complicated business, its not just making collections every year. I think I’d like to build up my ability as a designer by working for a fashion company for the next few years. After that, I’d love to have my own label eventually. I’m hoping that I will be able to be settled down as the owner of my own label later like J.W Anderson.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THE BRITISH FASHION INDUSTRY AND, IF ANYTHING, WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO CHANGE?
British fashion always inspires and spurs me to do different experimental trials with fashion. Many people from the fashion industry appreciate the diverse trials and support them, which really motivates new young designers like me. I wouldn’t like to say that I want to change British fashion. Just, if there is anything that I can do for British fashion, I’d like to go my own way by continuing to produce intelligent designs that can be good references for other designers.
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