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Fashion designer Doo-Ri Chung
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¡°When I launched my own fashion line, I borrowed a big amount from my parents. It was over US$100,000. It wasn¡¯t the money but convincing them that I need this particular job that was really difficult. Now? I¡¯ve already paid off all debts, and my mother wears my clothes every day.¡±
Confidence has clearly paid off for Doo-Ri Chung (35), a Korean fashion designer in New York City.
Standing less than 160 cm tall with a slim frame and small face, Chung has a cheerful low voice. Although she moved to the U.S. at the age of four, she has no problem expressing her thoughts in Korean.
Chung, who used to make clothes at a laundry her parents ran, is regarded as one of the most successful Korean fashion designers working overseas. Her list of clients includes Eva Longoria of ¡°Desperate Housewives,¡± Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and tennis star Maria Sharapova. Chung¡¯s clothes are sold in over 40 stores named worldwide including London, Tokyo and Dubai.
Chung got into a fashion design by the ordinary route. After graduating from the Parsons School of Design in New York in 1995, she worked under leading American designer Geoffrey Beane for six years. When she quit to launch her own line, Chung was named on the ¡°2006 Who¡¯s Next¡± list in fashion by the Newsweek in 2005, and won the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for emerging talent the same year.
Asked about the secret of her success, she stressed the need for networking. ¡°Networking is extremely important in the fashion industry. For example, Zac Posen is really good at it. He¡¯s charismatic and he goes to every party in the town, so everyone knows him. On the other hand, I¡¯m a quiet person, so I focus on my own business rather than meeting other people for networking¡¯s sake. For a small company like mine, each day is like a war, and we have to battle every day to survive,¡± said Chung.
Chung is in Seoul at the moment because she is launching W Concept by Doo-Ri in collaboration with online purchasing agent site Wizwid (www.wizwid.com) at the end of September. She said she hopes this will give as many people as possible an opportunity to wear her clothes. During the promotion, clothes which are normally over W1 million (US$1=W1,149) will be sold for W200,000 to 300,000. She will showcase 25 different looks, from jersey dress to trench coat.
Asked about disparaging remarks by Liz Claiborne CEO Tim Gunn about Korean fashion students, Chung says she was not happy at all. Gunn had said that for some Korean students Parsons is "like a finishing school.¡± ¡°In a way, they are learning how to shop,¡± he said. ¡°Still, there will be those with the ambition and talent to go the distance,¡± said Gunn. But Chung says, ¡°It¡¯s wrong to blame the students if the school admits less talented people simply because they pay a lot of money to the school.¡±
But Chung also has a piece admits that such students exist. ¡°It¡¯s better not to enter the fashion industry if you think you can copy someone else¡¯s design. This is serious work, and not everyone can do it. Our work is a serious business.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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