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| Yang Yu-na's final year project at Central Saint Martins in London |
By Rachel Lee
Her creations evoke classic European elegance and are spiced with the sensibility of contemporary women's fashion in New York. They are airy, delicate, high-end clothes in pristine pastels, floral prints and silky textures.
"I have offered something that women crave for in the high-end fashion world; something that's entirely refreshing and unique," said Yang Yu-na in an interview with The Korea Times. Yang is creative director of her label YUNA YANG. The Korean-born, New York-based designer last month launched her collection "When ART meets Fashion," which was designed in collaboration with her art teacher Cho Duck-hyun at Lotte World Mall's Avenuel in Seoul.
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| Designer Yang Yu-na |
"This collection is a collaboration between professor Cho's Wedding series and my recent Spring/Summer 2015 collection inspired by the Second World War era when women entered the modern workplace," said Yang. "I've always liked the 1940s and wanted to show the power and optimism of dreams in my creations."
Her designs draw from her personal fascination with diverse cultures. After completing her BA in fine art at Ewha Women's University in Korea in 2001, she studied at Instituto Marangoni in Italy. While in the European nation, her aesthetics, attention to detail and eastern perspective on western fashion caught the eye of designer Alviero Martini, and she was honored with a commission to design evening dresses for Milan fashion week. She further honed her techniques at Central Saint Martins in London. There she was privileged to work with famed designers Ann Sofie Beck and Clements Ribiero for a few years.
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was in Milan," said Yang. "One day she asked me to visit her atelier and there I saw the traditional craft of lace making, and I was like wow, this is art. I realized fashion is art and since then my love for lace began to appear in every single piece of my collection."
Since making her debut in 2010 at New York Fashion Week, Yang has been known for elegantly draped, bias-cut gowns in dreamy pastels and ruched goddess dresses. Other showstoppers include a polka dotted trench coat, a floral dress and a floor length, white peasant style gown. All of them are simply designed and look feminine and masculine at the same time.
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| YUNA YANG Spring/Summer 2015 collection / Courtesy of Yang Yu-na |
"Dealing with lace is much harder than you can imagine. It's very complicated and extremely difficult to get what you want with lace, but I think it kind of suits the way I work," said the designer. "Lace dresses can easily make you look tacky, so you've got to be very careful when choosing one. That's why I only use the fine quality French lace that is used frequently by Buckingham Place for Kate Middleton's clothing. It's worth the money."
The creative director is focusing on the Asian market at the moment ― Korea and Taiwan in particular ― and plans to launch her label in Japan and China in the near future.
"I feel local consumers took a fancy to what I create as I offer something rather unordinary. It's something different from the likes of Prada. I have carved out a niche market," said Yang. "I never thought I was just selling clothes. I've always sold my brand and concept, and that will never change. The brand selling and convincing part of the job seems endless but I enjoy doing it and I love the outcome of it."
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