Tae Choi

This project is based around the cultural legacy of Seoul - where Tae grew up - a society that appears homogeneous, but has elements of foreign cultural influence. Among this cultural mix, the focus is on the unique localisation of Korean American Tailoring, which was created by the tailor shops around US Army bases after the Korean War. Through his work, Tae provides a unique perspective on this relationship by tracing the evolution of iconic garments within his cultural context. In other words, he reconstructed the imported cultural influences that arrived in Seoul from the US in different time periods, among which the strongest were the hip-hop culture and aesthetics and the sartorial codes of American basketball players’ suits. His menswear collection puts historic trends into a contemporary context, wisely mixing and weaving these features.