Here and Now Fashion Festival

Everyone has three lives: a public, private, and secret.

This collection is about my Korean culture and the aesthetic of the traditional woven knots, "norigae". Focusing on the idea of home, the collection sends a message of comfort, relaxation, and coziness.

The collection consists of multifunctional bags that act as home furnishing with hidden compartments. The padded knots made in silk will speak to the aesthetics of this collection. "Norigae" is a decorative pendant made up of knots. Its main function is an accessory, however it symbolizes good luck and eternal youth. The design process started with learning how to create the knot in its traditional material (silk) and manner. Then I expanded to a thicker rope, then eventually to padding my own fabric. to get to the desired size. After learning the technique, I personalized the knotting technique by modifying the weave and looseness of certain parts.

Fashion products started to emerge from the process of using different materials and playing with size.
Different materials were experimented with, however silk is used consistently throughout the collection. Silk helps speak to the origin of where this collection has started. Prototyping with different materials allowed this collection to expand with various products. Initially, the knots started to become a textile, but the padding of the inside allowed the knots to become a product in itself.

Stephanie Yoon is a fashion product designer from Los Angeles, California and currently in New York, NY. Her interests in handbags and accessories have led her to study the Fashion Product pathway at Parsons School of Design. Throughout her time at Parsons, she has developed skill sets in the making and design process of fashion.

In her thesis, she has created an assortment of fashion products that would function as both an art piece and a handbag. Stephanie has worked to tie in her own Korean Culture into her work, developing a new method of creating a traditional knot. The design process led to creating her own patterning and materials to create what once was a "norigae".