From an army bunker on the Korean peninsula to showcasing his work at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Ethan Keem is carving out a name for himself in Central Saint Martins. The 25 year old womenswear designer from the southern state’s capital, Seoul, is embracing one of the most exciting times for a young creative. We caught up with him to discuss his latest work, his influences and why the notion of home is more important than ever.
Daniel Love: What made you look at an education in fashion design, and in particular womenswear?
Ethan Keem: Basically I was in the army in South Korea, partly because of conscription but also because I was a really shit student. I couldn’t get into any universities in Korea. So I applied to the army for a job and became a radar engineer, detecting missiles. I was in the bunkers.
I wasn’t really interested in womenswear in particular but we went to church every Sunday and my mum would dress up especially and become this completely different person. And I started to become interested in the idea of the woman changing by the act of dressing up; be it makeup or the clothes or the shoes or jewellery. And I liked the power and the ability to make them look good and feel good. That’s the reason I started to become interested in the possibilities of fashion design.
D: So what was it that made you pick London and Saint Martins as the place you wanted to be?
E: Well actually I initially looked to New York as what I had seen while I was growing up was all the American side of fashion rather than the European side. But when I actually started to research arts universities I realised that a lot of really creative designers were coming from London rather than New York. I’m not degrading New York but it’s more about business, money and commerciality where as London is more small scale creativity. And then the only place to reject me was Saint Martins. So I had applied to BA Womenswear without a Foundation Diploma, received offers from Parsons and everyone else but I decided that if they were the ones that had said no then they must be the best. So this actually stimulated me and I applied to do Foundation here in London at Saint Martins.
D: What design experience did you have when you applied to Saint Martins then? Had you done anything design based in Korea before?
E: Nothing. Well while I was in the army I did work on some of my senior officer’s uniforms. When we progressed through the different levels and gained experience the uniforms were adapted to fit your position as a general for example. So we had to appliqué the details and I don’t know why but I ended up doing that.
D: As you’re designing now do you still look back to where you first became interested in fashion? About your mum and female empowerment?
E: Yes, a bit because all of my projects are based on a female character in history or a current figure. I’m really into focusing on one character and developing my work around that; how she walks, how she moves and talks, what she wears, their personality.
D: So you have a muse?
E: Yes. Different project, different muse, but still really focusing on a very specific woman. With an interesting life story or attitude, an interesting figure. For one project I became really interested in Joan of Arc and her story. She’s obviously burnt at the stake and I wanted to explore an alternate ending to her life.
D: Does the way you design affect the way that you dress and present yourself? Do you see your aesthetic changing?
E: No. I’m not really into the whole “crazy styling people” making and creating clothes. I don’t find it interesting. You can be completely “normal” and still create really interesting and different designs. It makes it more powerful. You can just predict “Oh they’re wearing that and they’re designing that”. I don’t really like putting myself in that predictable box.
D: Designers are embracing the idea of menswear and womenswear showing together and gender neutral, unisex designs. Where does a womenswear designer now sit?
E: I do respect womenswear and menswear together. I understand where this is coming from but in my personal opinion, a woman’s body and a man’s body are very different. I respect a woman’s body and this is the way that I design. Men dress men and women dress women and vice versa. It’s all empowering in different ways and I see it working side by side.
D: What was the inspiration behind the latest design that you presented at the V&A?
E: Balenciaga invited us to Spain as part of a collaboration project. Basically we had one day and then we came back. And if I’m honest, before I got there I didn’t really like Balenciaga’s clothes, because the designs were almost too beautiful. But once I got to their archive I was really surprised how he created his patterns and the elegance behind it all. So after that I began thinking about the Netherland’s traditional costume. Really structured garments that they wore when fishing and farming, the traditional jobs that you would normally associate with men at that time. And again this was really interesting looking at the empowerment of women. And for the volume in the design I looked at parachutes which led me to decide on wool and nylon materials as they hold air. And in terms of the blue colour palette; I never really think about using blue. But during the process of the design I was looking at images of the sky so much because of the parachutes that it just came naturally. And the plainness of it and starkness really appealed to me.
And this project gave me the most opportunity and press since I started designing. After presenting at the V&A I was invited to show at Shanghai Fashion Week; which unfortunately I couldn’t take up due to university work. And multiple magazines were contacting me asking if they could use my garments. Opportunity wise this was amazing.
D: Do you see your designs all following a similar aesthetic now or do you see this changing as you work?
E: Well for the Balenciaga collaboration it was different because it was influenced by a very specific design aesthetic but in general my silhouettes tend to follow a very rounded shape. I love round shapes and pleats but now I’m becoming very interested in movement and how the garment reacts to the way that the person wearing it moves. It gives more dynamic with real interaction with the body. I don’t like garments to be static, I like garments to move.
D: Does being from South Korea affect how you think and design now?
E: Yes, definitely. Living in the UK following the British lifestyle as appose to 24 hour Korea. Everything at home is very fast paced, rushing into it but here I have to compromise myself now. At 10pm all of the shops here are closed so I have had to learn to work around this very different time table and lifestyle. And when I first came here I lost a lot of weight because of the food. I couldn’t eat any food here. Now I love fish and chips, but I still can’t handle Haggis.
My working process is very different here as well. Looking at how people wear clothes in the UK is interesting. As in Korea we don’t really have charity shops or vintage clothes, where as they are essentially mainstream here. It effected me a lot when I first came here but I think I still have the Korean aspect of me. That very polished and raw look. And I see this in the UK especially in architecture. This cross over of old and new with old buildings being remodelled inside with clean polished interior design.
D: Does physically being in a different country away from home and your family have a big influence on you?
E: Yes, when I experience a bad period of homesickness I design something really depressing. The colour palette completely changes. It affects me a lot. All artwork and design is about your feelings and emotions. I really hate it when I feel like this. Every single year I have a period like this and I become a really horrible person. And even though I’m speaking English now there are words that I can’t use to express my feelings. In Korean I can fully explain my feelings but here something stops me and it’s frustrating. I’m having to translate everything.
D: What are you working on now?
E: At the moment I’m working with Ezoe Robinson on her final collection. She worked at Christian Dior and Oscar de la Renta on her placement year. We have a different kind of style. She’s hyper feminine, pinks and reds. I’m learning from someone different it’s a good mix. If someone was completely the same as me I wouldn’t learn anything. I’m just about to start a sustainability project as well but with portfolio and interviews I haven’t had a chance to think about that yet. But to be quite honest I’m not really the most sustainable of people. It’s not for me.
D: Where do you want to go for your placement?
E: Louis Vuitton. I always loved Nicolas Ghesquière when he was at Balenciaga. I was obsessed with him. Even when I was in the army I remember seeing the Balenciaga collections. I got really excited by it. For me it was such a culture shock, really beautiful. So now that he’s at Louis Vuitton, that’s where I want to be.
