Hanacha Studio – Seoul Fashion Week

“It makes my fashion design get certainness from uncertainness”

Having taken part in both london Fashion Week and Seoul Fashion week in just over a month it’s fair to say the global presence of Hanacha Studio has grown a lot since I last caught up with her way back in February, but as one of the most interesting thinkers in fashion it’s always great to be able to put a few questions to founder Cha Ha Na.

Fashion has borrowed heavily from modernist movements such as Pop Art and Minimalism or pre-20th century forms such as Romanticism, why do you think so few have explored the relationship that can be created with other movements such as your interest in Bauhaus or Fauvism from the inter-war period?

For realising my collection, I normally do not chase trends. Whenever I come up with my collection, I have been always sort of trying to explore simplified shapes and simplified colour blocks and so on. In the meantime, in the process of my research for my doctorate, I’ve just discovered the theory of simplicity in Bauhaus which marked the onset of Modernism with simplified design. I linked this theoretical approach to my research background in fashion design. Whilst I discovered this, I felt that uncertainness became certainness. That’s all. 

Given the design requirements the weather conditions force upon clothes do you think true seasonality can be achieved or is it a case of reducing focus but still keeping an understanding of the seasons requirements?

I reckon that seasonality will be required as it has always existed under the system of Fashion Weeks in the world, such as London, Paris and Seoul etc. Not only for this, surely there is also keeping the seasons in needs in terms of business. 

You have an academic background that is increasingly joined with your fashion education, what do you think they contribute to each other?

Absolutely, an academic background enables my knowledge to deepen. It makes my fashion design get certainness from uncertainness. It supports both theoretical and practical thinking for designing as well, regarding the fact that I’ve got a certain clue for realisation in fashion design. 

What does sustainability mean to you?

It is my vision. It means that it hasn’t yet completed, but could possibly be evidence for a blueprint in future fashion. (Fingers crossed)

By Ross Pollard – Emerging Designers Editor