Kim Eun-ji, Ha Yae-one Reporters

The Republic of Korea Otters9 Fashion Show, held at Deokjin Park on October 23rd, is an up-cycling culture and arts festival that marks its 21st anniversary this year. The show name, Otters9, gets its name from efforts to create a clean environment so that nine otters can live in the Jeonjucheon stream. Organized by E.C.O.C (Environment Culture Organization Committee, with Kim Seung Jung as the chairman of the committee), its aim is to alert citizens to the environmental problems caused by clothing waste and to encourage recycling through an up-cycling fashion show. The JBNU Department of Fashion Design has been participating in the show every year. This year, eight teams of seventeen students participated to win an eco-friendly grand prize. The JBNU Globe had the honor to meet the three of the students who won the award: Jung Ye-won, Min Se-yeong, and Lim Ji-hyun.

Behind the Show
The fashion show participants bring discarded clothes from E.C.O.C, reform them under their own concepts, and stage them. The JBNU team used discarded wedding dresses and hanboks to express the famous story of ‘Snow White.’ They made clothes for the dwarves which were well suited for the child models by weaving together colorful hanbok fabrics. They also sprinkled black paint on the bottom of a white wedding dress to turn it into a costume for the witch.

However, there were many difficulties behind the beautiful fashion show. Three students especially mentioned the diffi culties in communicating with the models and the absence of a clear-cut order to the fashion show. The lack of work space was another difficulty. They even had to sneak into a closed school building at dawn to fi nish the work.

The students expressed their feelings that they want people to understand the hard work of fashion designers. It’s not all glamorous and easy. Min Se-yeong said, “the working environment was very poor, but everyone worked so hard. I felt great when I saw that the clothes I made looked good on the models.”
 

Up-cycling for Fashion
While the students positively introduced the examples of brands such as Patagonia combining up-cycling with their new designs, they emphasized that the fashion industry is an area producing a lot of trash. “It takes a lot of water to grow cotton, and wastewater is generated a lot when dyeing fi bers. Honestly, I don’t think it’s an eco-friendly fi eld,” said Min Se-yeong. They noted that industries should not produce fast fashion in the first place, but make quality clothing so that they can last for a long time. They also pointed out ways for ordinary people to practice eco-friendly fashion in their own lives: purchasing up-cycled products or reforming old clothes of their own.
 

Fashion, Every Moment
As juniors in the JBNU Department of Fashion Design, they have made a lot of very meaningful clothes. Lim Ji-hyun chose a jacket as her best piece because it was the most difficult thing she had ever made and it took a very long time to create. She drew thirty-three concept patterns before making the jacket.
Min Seyeong excitedly mentioned a ‘textile’ that makes patterns by using a computer program. During the semester, she conceived her own pattern and made it using various colors. She said it was very fun because she took initiative in being creative in class. Jung Ye-won mentioned the ‘Sun-burst’ dress as her masterpiece. This is a design that takes a long time only wrapping cloth directly on the mannequin. She said that the dress was diff erent from casual clothes she had made before, so she was very proud of herself. After that arduous experience, she feels confi dent that she can now make a variety of clothes.

Those Fashion design majors who have about a year left before graduation must think about what field to enter. In the JBNU Department of Fashion Design, students can enter a wide variety of fields. Students can accumulate natural scientific knowledge by studying textiles, study the history of clothing, obtain humanities and historical knowledge, and learn about marketing and industrial structures in order to understand the process of clothing sales and distribution. Among them, Lim Jihyun is considering a job as a fashion MD (merchandiser). Min Se-yeong is considering starting her own business. Jung Yewon aims to be a fashion Textile planner.
 

Fashion Splendor and its Hidden Efforts
Have you ever seen a designer who greets the audience with an attractive smile at the fashion show finale? Most people fall for the professional charm of designers by looking at such designers and high-quality apparel. We tend to think that designers will keep their appearance flawless and only wear stylish apparel. However, that is all just a fantasy. Designers’ legs and necks suff er from the strain of standing and craning for long periods of time. They often wear sweaty clothes in their studios and cannot wash all day and night. Nevertheless, with their passion for fashion, designers endure all kinds of pain. That is why the three students want us to know the value of the apparel we wear. We should know that every apparel we wore, wear, and will wear contains the soul of a designer.