Life & Style | Beauty & Fashion
Doo-Ri Chung shines in Dubai
Doo-Ri Chung, an upcoming American designer is best known for her clothes in the luxurious-yet-forgiving fabric.
- By Kelly Crane, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:50 April 20, 2008
- Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News
- Whatever your personal style, Chung's vision has a sleek, modern look that will have you feeling like a supermodel in no time.
She's known for her clothes in the luxurious-yet-forgiving fabric. But Doo-Ri Chung, shining star of the young American design scene, is putting her best foot forward exclusively in Dubai.
Doo-Ri Chung has quickly established herself as a designer whose work is as admired as much for its beauty as for its technical brilliance.
Sitting across from me, it is instantly apparent Chung thinks of almost nothing but fashion. Feeling I really should have worn some kind of jersey dress — a look she is renowned and loved for — her kind features put me automatically at ease as we talk of the joys of jetlag.
“I'm seriously not sure what time my body thinks it is", she laughs. “I am running on adrenaline and excitement about the trunk show at Harvey Nichols tonight."
In Dubai to launch her autumn/winter '08 collection, Chung said she didn't get nervous about her shows anymore.
She added: “I've done too many now to get nervous. They are all very similar in the way they work so it's just a case of sticking to the formula."
Since she launched her signature collection in 2003, Chung has made her mark as one of the leading lights of the next generation of great American designers.
Having graduated from the Parsons School of Design, Chung got started working at the legendary Geoffrey Beene, where she stayed for five years and rose to the position of lead designer. Despite her skyrocketing career, Chung is remarkably down-to-earth in person.
Freedom
She said: “I count myself very lucky. The best thing about my job is the freedom of design and expression. But of course it comes with a downside too. The demand is huge in a number of ways and it never really feels like the pressure goes away."
During her studies she honed her gift for the sinuous draping and technical precision that have become the hallmarks of Doo.Ri — the name of her label. In her collections, she is renowned for applying couture techniques to sportswear fabrics like jersey, wool gabardine and leather.
She added: “In my creative process, I am constantly thinking of juxtapositions of fixed versus fluid, tailored versus unconstructed, as well as thinking of how to convey and accentuate the female form in innovative ways. New ways of approaching how women dress are a constant of source inspiration for me."
And her latest collection proves she really is branching out. The jersey dress is still featured but the collection has definitely stiffened up with more sculptural fabrics, little black dresses and cropped jackets.
She said: “Surface effects are something I am looking into too with the use of lots of crystals and stones across the line.
“I think it was just time to learn something new and try something different. I believe there was always going to come a time when the new lines would come — one for the customer but also for me as a designer."
The trunk show in Dubai also saw another first for Chung, with the launch of her first shoe collection which is not available anywhere else in the world.
She said: “The shoe thing is something I've always been drawn to and it gave me the opportunity to get back into a classroom and learn again. I am hungry for knowledge when it comes to fashion and I feel I am growing as a designer everyday."
The true runway look and feel seems to come naturally to Chung, who began working out of the basement of her parent's dry-cleaning store before hitting the runway in 2003.
The models parading up and down the runway in the middle of Harvey Nichols, Mall of the Emirates, made the simplest jersey dresses, trousers and tops look like they were made for a-listers.
Whatever your personal style, Chung's vision has a sleek, modern look that will have you feeling like a supermodel in no time.
“The shoe thing is something I've always been drawn to and it gave me the opportunity to get back into a classroom and learn again. I am hungry for knowledge when it comes to fashion and I feel I am growing as a designer everyday."
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