What is 1991 Notion?
“1991” is one of the means to express myself. It is who I am, what I love and experience and the things that I am affected by and want to express. “Notion” is an important part establishing the reasons of the brand’s existence and the creative reasons of the product. It also represents my concept of choosing the topic and producing a suitable design following the intended directions. In other words, 1991NOTION is a process of moulding “Me” with a combination of my life and my philosophical ideology.
Tell me more about your background and what drew you to fashion?
14 years ago, I watched Alexander McQueen’s show for the first time. I still remember the show quite vividly and it naturally led me to have an interest in fashion. I became absorbed in pursuing fashion. I studied fashion not by viewing it simply as fantasy but how Margiela’s design was made philosophically or what kind of process there was in the beauty Galliano expresses.
How did you start your brand?
I’ve been planning it for the past 2 years. I wanted show myself the process of what I’ve become but I was quite afraid. Because I am not perfect, I had second thoughts such as “What if I fail” or ” What if I look ridiculous” and that prevented me from starting my own brand. In retrospect, I guess there was nothing to lose but I simply had a lot on my mind.
The main trigger that made me determine to start my own brand was my soulmate Kyungdeok Yoon’s work of art and my professor Hosung Seo’s exhibition.
Tell me more about your collection Victor Choi and Ready Made.
I grew up longing for rock ‘n’ roll culture and I was influenced by Victor Choi the vocalist of this collection’s muse, KNHO, the Russian rock band. Also, while I was traveling Paris, I saw a piece at Centre Pompidou, Ready-Made by artist Franz West. Among the new expression mode, the fact that the shouting of freedom and the passion of youth do not need any conditions made me look back at myself.
What Victor Choi and KNHO showed are freedom, youth and stories of change and peace. What Franz West defined was creativeness through harmony, concept, and new approaches. My collection is a result of harmony through Victor Choi’s message and Franz West’s work; Ready-Made’s way of expressing.
What inspired your pieces and what was the process of creating them like?
I felt extreme delight while watching 1990 KNHO’s Moscow concert and its audience. The fact that the shouting of freedom and the passion of youth do not need any conditions made me reflect on my own experience. After that, as I watched Victor Choi’s interview, documentary illustrating his life values and Leto movies, I realized KNHO and Victor Choi’s view of life was effecting me.While preparing this collection I pondered a lot how to express the time I spent being inspired through compressing fashion irrelevant stuff into one word and one figure. Instead of explaining how I was inspired or what expressions I used, taking a peek at my collection look book may be a better illustration of my inspiring moments.
Tell me about the process of creating those beautiful colourful pieces. What is the fabric like and what was the colourful process?
I had no intention of making my work simply a result of beautiful colours. The thing I realized after Franz West exhibition was; Creating beauty with messy stuff. In fact, an object consisting of a single colour and irregular expressions can be considered beautiful before exploring the process of how it was made.
Putting the work aside, the process of making the object is shown as mere mess to everyone since it has no clear rule in designing. The words that popped in my head when I see Victor Choi is macho, manly and wild. To show Russian rockstar I thought of diverse leather materials and the details of western mood. And on top of that I used Franz West’s colouring method creating beauty out of messy and dirty things. I precisely imagined what I wanted to express and tried to colour it in a messy way rather than in a beautiful way.
What is your favourite piece from your collection and why?
I favour all the work of Ready-Made collection. It depicts modern view and while the modern view itself is magnificent, when we dig deep down through time, the history may not be all beautiful. I wanted to express this point; the magnificent view as a mixture of beauty and mess. I tried to express my thought that everything around us should not be seen always black and white.
Where do you see yourself taking 1991Notion in the future?
1991Notion starts with the representation of me and it will keep on representing me in the future. The reason why I didn’t classify the collection title in year or quarter is because I did not want any pressure from my brand.
The collection will strictly proceed with stories I want to tell and I would like to note that I am currently preparing my collection reminiscing my grandmother. I do not know how my work will affect the world but I would like to challenge the LVMH Prize and exhibit my works in various countries. Once I go on with my collection, I will be able to develop myself regardless of failure and success and I really hope to teach students who are interested in fashion with what I achieved.
To view more of 1991 Notion’s work visit their Instagram @1991.notion
Or visit his website https://www.1991notion.com/
