Soulpot Studio - Exploring the Korean fabric of the soul

I had the opportunity to discover Korean designer Kim Sujinn's work during the Blueprint tradeshow and was very impressed by her vision and the sense of intimacy that her clothes seem to carry, simply through its fabrics and loose, poetic silhouettes. 

Sujinn K. is the youngest designer to show at Seoul Fashion Week and the amazing thing is that she is an entirely self-taught designer. She has never had any formal training in dressmaking nor fashion - previously she studied Chemistry in university. Her love for fashion started when she began reading dressmaking through books and through the years, she has been creating beautiful things and is now into her 11th collection already. Handling all aspects of her label alone (designing, sourcing for fabrics, marketing, PR...), this is one amazing and strong girl. Despite all this, she remains very humble and down to earth. 


I first met her at her Blueprint booth - a seemingly quiet and reserved girl. Upon touching and feeling the subtle luxury of the fabrics, I was drawn into her collection, but unfortunately we couldn't communicate. It was only on the second day when I returned to her booth that I managed to interview her informally through a translator. 

Hand dyed parka with Hanbok inspired high collar & cutouts

Loose silhouettes & tie-belts to allow for free styling

Linen inner layer cotton weaved muslin outer

Naked Glory: What are the inspirations behind your designs? Why do you choose such soft and slouchy silhouettes in these neutral colors? 
Sujinn K: I want to use organic fabrics and the traditional Korean ways of dyeing and treating fabric so that it is better and more comfortable for the human body. I'm not trying to achieve the Japanese Zen - that is another set of values altogether. A lot of the styles here are reinterpretations of the traditional Korean Hanbok in a modern way. Because a lot of Koreans hate traditional costumes nowadays, so I want to change that mentality and show my designs internationally for people to know what traditional Korean fabrics and believes are.  I want to make my styling free and easy so there is a lot of lightweight fabrics and draping. 


In Korea in the past, our ancestors used to wear long pants and long sleeves even in summer. This was because their fabrics were very breathable and lightweight. So I have incorporated a lot of linen in my designs. 

I personally observed that Sujinn paid a lot of details - it all lines within her stitching, buttons at the side of her maxi skirts and ingenious draping.

NG: I really love your designs but I'm concerned about the commercial factor of your designs - how are sales doing so far in Korea and what about your stockists elsewhere?

In the beginning it was very difficult because I was a young designer and because of my minimalistic designs that are unlike what the KPop culture promotes nowadays. That's why I have my diffusion line Soulpot Studio Basic Words, which is a selection of 10 essential basics trickled down from my main line. But unlike some other labels that assert itself with loud colors and futuristic designs, I want to establish soft design principles that resonate with my customers/wearers of my clothes. So gradually, I have attained local customers that can identify with my designs and values. 

Every tag comes with complete breakdown of fabrics used & swatches

SBSW - diffusion line

Soulpot Studio embodies a quiet sophistication in its designs, but yet at the same time a determination to create change and express values through fashion. It is not just retailing clothing, but the brand itself reflects the cultural level of Korea and has created a mature elegance by relating to its own cultural aesthetic and identity. In today's age, it's not easy to find that anymore. And that's why I love the label. 


Watch Soulpot Studio's SS12 show at Seoul Fashion Week here to see how her clothes move. Notice that she casted all Asian models.

A day in the life of a Fashion Buyer

I signed up as a buyer host this year for the annual Blueprint tradeshow for independent fashion designers instead of as the media because I thought it'd be interesting to follow buyers around to see how they decide to place orders. I was attached with the founder and buyers from Hong Kong multi-label boutique, Voulez Vous - two very cute ladies - Karen Peng and Stella Tang.

On day 1:
8.40am - I arrived at Suntec City convention centre where Blueprint is held this year to wait for my buyers.
tick tock tick tock
10ish am - My buyers are finally here! I was introduced to Karen and Stella.
Stella zooms straight onto L'ile aux Ashby, a local accessory designer, having previously received his lookbook images before. The co-designer is engaged with someone else - we move on.

10.30am - Stella discovered a London based label designed by an Indonesian lady featuring loud graphic prints of animals - lions, parrots and chimpanzees dressed in royal headgear. Their dresses also featuring a mashup of colors and black tutu skirts. Karen got in talks with the designer and we find out that they customize graphic prints as well and is currently not stocked in HK yet. Stella liked the brand immediately for this loud prints and colors. "Hong Kong people like bright, loud colors and big prints," she says.

Stella also found another Hong Kong designer that specializes in "tattoo" leggings - I must say I'm also in love with their graphic print leggings, being made from a blend of nylon and spandex. It feels very smooth, breathable and luxurious. She has never heard of the Hong Kong designer's label before and seems interested to work with her. After a short chat in Cantonese, we move on.



10.50am - Stella spots New York label Dzojchen and is interested in their leather and denim spring collection. She likes the feel of the fabrics but feels that the designs may not do well in the HK market. The designer offered them a thick lookbook and line sheet of the looks. The ladies politely turned her down.

11am - Karen and Stella goes over to RougeRouge, a Bangkok designer offered quirky leather clutches and small bags. Stella loves the designs and gets Karen to take photos of her carrying their Salvador Dali inspired eye clutch bag, book clutches and mustache clutch.

For the rest of the day, Stella and Karen pretty much work very fast - talking to designers whom they feel would be suitable for the Hong Kong market. The rest of the designers they spoke to were Mae Pang, Juma, Unbounded Awe (for their cute graphic socks), Vice & Vanity and Nikicio. They are mostly interested in stocking loud and chunky accessories such as those from Vice & Vanity, and also graphic prints/digitally manipulated loud prints for clothes.

I've learnt that in HK, there are a lot of small multi-label boutiques like theirs so Stella is keen on keeping the collections she orders exclusive to Causeway Bay (where her boutique is located) and the Central area. Nobody likes seeing other people stocking the same stuff they spent time curating and selecting. Approaching a brand involves talking about their delivery mode (consignment, drop shipment?), duration of lead time, line sheets, minimum order quantity if any, counter samples and also wholesale and recommended retail pricing.

We were done with the tradeshow by just over 1pm, so in short, the buyers took only roughly 3 hours for the tradeshow of over 100 brands. Some of the brands were good but they were just not suitable for their HK clientele so we didn't even approach those brands. This experience definitely strengthened my wanting to be a buyer! It's such a niche market in the sense that it requires you to be good at both numbers and people - building relationships with designers and suppliers, and also negotiating the best prices for yourself.
Hope this post is useful for anyone who's interested in being a buyer.

Blueprint Tradeshow - J.JSLee's dreaminess

Jackie JS Lee's designs completely won me over with the elegant fluidity and movement in her pleated sheer maxi dresses and voluminous palazzo pants. Her sleek silhouette and minimalistic design makes it the collection urban and suitable for the modern women, but yet at the same time her clothes possess such great movement that there was a subtle reference to Romanticism as well. A graduate of Central Saint Martins, Jackie was originally from Korea (which was revealed when I overheard jabbering away in rapid Korean with her friend) and has only been designing for 2 years. That's really amazing considering that she has such a clear and consistent focus in her collection and has already established her brand DNA based on minimalism.

I would say that she is a minimalist in terms of her design aesthetic, as can be seen from her primary colour palette of neutrals, white and navy, but yet a maximalist in terms of details and textures.
For one of her outerwear pieces, Jackie used a textured fabric which she sourced in Italy that had navy threads sewn onto the heavy cotton. The result appeared to be like navy paintstrokes that dried on a white canvas, giving great texture to the fabric.

Chiffon was presourced and then custom pleated at a factory to be made into a boyfriend blazer with satin lapels, which brought a 3D effect to an otherwise relaxed piece of outerwear. The subtle print of white polka dots were actually printed onto the primary fabric with suede, which felt luxurious to the touch.

It was not just the amazing attention paid to the fabric - Jackie also incorporated tiny details into her design through press-button closures and openwork stitching along the seams of blazers, trousers and collars on the blouses and dresses. The asymmetric layers and lightweight pleated chiffon gave her designs a breath of fresh air, while gold utility zippers incorporated into the backs of the dresses made a nice contrast against her soft,
floaty fabrics. Perfect for Singapore's weather.

Looking at her designs reminds me of this Japanese painting. The constantly billowing hemlines, inverted box pleated pants and the weightlessness of her fabric reminds me of the lapping waves, but yet in an overall perspective, there is a certain stillness or rather, calmness to her collection.

We can't always be fashionable

But we can all have style. And you don't need to have money to have style - most of the time it's the way you wear the clothes you own - it's an attitude and the look that you put together. I would say stylish people are those that can find ways to combine clothes together in the most amazing way in terms of layering and colour combination, and has an overall theme that makes the whole look cohesive.

Below's some of the wonderful people that I've spotted during AFF and Blueprint tradeshow. Of course, there are many many more people that I saw during AFF that I wanted to shoot too, but was too shy to ask. I hope this won't happen when I visit Paris.

Fumi, fashion director of Kloo.

Moe Kurakami, fashion planner and blogger from Tokyo

Luth, My amazing androgynous friend

Me, wearing Kristie's vintage wrap blouse, my mom's vintage mustard skirt, Rubi wedges
Shot by my friend, Boong, check out his other streetstyle photos here.

My girl Kristie in white shirt, her grandma's sweater & fishnet tights

Dr. Georgia Lee

Susie Bubble and her boyfriend (he runs Style Salvage)

Rachel, managing director Young & Restless
How amazing are those shades!

Cat Ong, Director of Development & Relations, Mercury MC in max.tan

Blueprint Local - Mae Pang & Ling Wu

Local accessories designer (and yummy mummy to-be) Ling Ling has been making quiet waves with her edgy but yet luxurious wallets, bags and clutches. All her accessories are made using authentic farmed snakeskin from Indonesia, and then lined with soft leather on the inside. She revealed that it is not difficult to source for fabrics in Indonesia, and she has all her products manufactured there as well.

I love that her wallets are minimalistic and fuss-free in terms of design to simply let the texture and amazing colour of the snakeskin take center stage. Her ruffled clutches and bags is made of goat skin dyed with a metallic sheen on the outside and then adorned with snakeskin ruffle trims to once again, bring out the texture of the material. Her slingbags incorporates more details with the cascading leather strips, knotted bag handles and weaved bag straps, but everything seems to be rather organic in the sense that there are no additional embellishments or metal hardware. In essence, her designs are simple but yet stand out through its popart colours and her precise presentation and placement of the snakeskin and goat skin fabrics to bring out the texture of both. Its luxury lies in its exquisite stitching, buttery soft skins and understated design accents.

(PS. Both Ling Ling & I agree that you shouldn't be hypocritical. If you eat meat, then you shouldn't be against farmed animal skins used in designs, provided that they are killed in a humane way.)

I see Ling Wu to be the perfect accessory for my friend Mae Pang's futuristic designs with similar precision cutting. For her newest Cruise collection, Mae Pang delivered tailored vests with pleated chiffon fabric and sturdy leather lapels, multiple slitted maxi skirts made from a mix of polyester and lycra, and long structured vests of polyester with an outer suede finish - with most of the outerwear and bottoms in shades of black, navy and dirty green. Adding to the mix are those what I like to call highlighter fluoroneon colours of yellow, blue and pink made into mesh tops and dresses overlaid with vinyl panels. This makes an edgy and irreverent collection that is exciting with its colour choices and custom pleated chiffon fabric. (And how great are those zip shin tights?)

Mae Pang continues to be one of those few Singaporean designers who are unafraid to push the envelope just a little more to produce edgy collections that are one of a kind, instead of the same old neutral colours and excessive draping as seen in other local designers' collection.