Minju Kim, fashion designer and H & M award winner

Under the heading "Fresh Blood", we present young professionals who have not yet become familiar in the pages of magazines, but will certainly have time to do this in the near future. Our heroine today is the H & M Design Award winner Minju Kim.

Text: Liza Kologreeva

We have repeatedly said that the fashion industry is showing increasing interest in Asia. For example, Raf Simons dedicated an anime collection, and Nicola Formichetti made the Dazed & Confused number kawai. Last week it became known that this year’s award for young designers H & M was received by a twenty-six-year-old Minju Kim from South Korea.

Now Minju is studying in the magistracy of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Antwerp. Her teachers include Walter van Beyrendonk and Dirk Van Saen from the famous Antwerp Six. Interestingly, the girl also entered Central Saint Martins and Parsons, but chose the Belgian school.

She sent the Dream My Friend collection to the H & M competition - these are voluminous jackets and coats, fur overalls and hats and shoes with scary faces. The clothes are inspired by the works of the Japanese artist Junjo Ito, specializing in manga and horror. The best among a dozen students of European fashion institutes girl called designer Jonathan Saunders, journalist Tim Blanks and the founder of the magazine Lula Leith Clark.

Kim showed the collection at Stockholm Fashion Week and received a prize of 50,000 euros. This summer she will graduate from the Academy, but she is not going to rush into creating a personal brand. “I didn’t have internship with designers. Besides, I need to get an education outside the fashion industry. Only then will I be ready to launch my business,” says Kim. However, her new work, we will see in the fall. Then the collection created by the Korean together with the creative director of the Swedish brand Ann-Sofi Johansson will appear in the H & M stores.