the new pornographer

Here's an article I wrote for Surface Asia Magazine based in Singapore on Korean designer Han Dongwoo / 한동우 and his label Irony Porn(o). I love the masculine feminine mashup in his collections and was lucky enough to model for him a few seasons ago in Seoul - check out some backstage shots from his FW10/11 show HERE.

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general idea fw 2011/12 by choi bum suk

I was a big fan of General Idea this season. I loved the sporty mix & match of bright active gear in red, navy, mustard & green. The leggings in nordic patterns or a quirky puffy jacket type material were fun & paired well with the hiking boots or colorful wingtip boots. The camouflage was also playful & almost cartoon-like in bright yellow & even pink. And how dashing did all the models look walking out of the tent at the entrance of the runway in those floppy felt hats? Very, if you asked me.






















































runway photos courtesy of HERE.

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chadchad of the day 2.8

light grey hoodie / H&M
charcoal grey tank top / H&M
white lightning bolt patterned denim / W. Dress Room
black sneakers / Converse


Last Thursday I stopped by the General Idea showroom with my friend Kyuhee for a collaboration party & W. Dress Room sale. General Idea is a Korean menswear brand designed by Bum Suk Choi / 최범석 and W. Dress Room is his less expensive, faster produced sister brand that carries both men's & women's clothing. I picked up these lightning bolt skinny jeans for only W10,000! ($10 US). I thought they might be a bit small as the sizing was just a vague 'large' so I had originally intended to reform them in some way, but fortunately they fit like a glove.

I bought the hood and tank top on Friday at H&M after model auditions for Seoul Fashion Week. A little shopping usually de-stresses me. The tank was actually found in the women's section, I just bought the biggest size available. If you aren't too shy the ladies section at H&M is worth checking out, they often have some pretty rad tanks that are very unisex and quite long.


The General Idea collaboration was called 'Teardrops, be Waterdrops'. Four Korean artists including my friends Dabin and Novo, were asked to design T-shirts with proceeds going to help children in Africa. For more information about the collaboration and to see some photos from the party (some of which I borrowed for this blog), check out Korean street snap photographer Paparazzo's website HERE.


This is my friend Novo with his white t-shirt in the background. Novo aka Jeong Eun Kang / 정은강 or 'Novo Korea Warrior' is also a well-known tattoo artist in Seoul. Check out his site HERE.


This is my friend Dabin Ahn / 안다빈 with his continental African print tee.

Check out some of General Idea collections I've photographed in the past:
Spring/Summer 2011
Fall/Winter 2010/11
Spring Summer 2010
Fall/Winter 2009

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chadchad of the day 0.3

camel trench coat / vintage Christian Dior (reformed)
denim shirt / W Dress Room
silk scarf / BON
black denim / no brand
brown socks / UNIQLO
burgundy loafers / Zara

/ There's nothing more perfect to wear on a sunny, crisp fall day than a classic trench coat. I picked this one up at Jamie & Bell vintage in Apgujeong just off Rodeo Street. It's a tiny little shop stocked full of amazing vintage from US & Europe and their jewelry and accessories are frequently used in editorials in all the biggest Korean fashion magazines from Vogue to Nylon to Bazaar. So you can imagine the prices. I don't usually splurge on clothes, actually I'm quite cheap. But this was so classic I knew I could have it for the rest of my life and cooly dropped the W300,000 for it. However soon after I bought it I had a bit of buyer's remorse - I wasn't wearing it often enough because it was a little too chunky and a little too long. To fix that, I took it to a local tailor (such cheap tailoring in Korea) to have it taken in slightly in the waist as well as to shorten the front panels, creating longer tails in the back. I loved the outcome - much more dramatic, yet still retaining it's classic appeal.





I bought the denim shirt with white buttons at the Gangnam Fashion Festival flea market held in October on Garosugil in Sinsa for only W10,000. It was made by W Dress Room, the sister brand of Choi Bumsuk's General Idea brand, and much better priced. My friend got the adorable loli-pop patterned scarf as a gift when he watched me walk in the "Playground" themed BON SS11 show by designer Lee Jung Jae at Seoul Collection.  /

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general idea ss11 by bumsuk choi

designer Bumsuk Choi / 최범석 / www.generalidea.co.kr

/ This years General Idea show, also shown in New York, opened with new shapes for casual basics in khakis and whites with sky blue and bold red used as accents.  It sort of had a country, quiet feel and then slowly out of nowhere a graphic type-face pattern appeared in white, black or beige, dominating the collection along with Jackson Pollock-like paint splashes.  These bold patterns and paint splashes were used all over suit jackets and oversized trenches, raincoats and bags creating a very dramatic finale. However I found the relationship between the opening half and the closing half to be way too disconnected and it ended up feeling like two different collections.  The first soft, casual & polite and the other aggressive, in your face & dramatic.  /

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