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Young Korean Fashion Designer Makes Waves

Designer Jung Mi-sun is relatively a new face in the fashion industry with only five years in the business. She did not particularly want to become a fashion designer, and made her own brand Nohke J in 2009 just for fun while preparing to study abroad.

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"I didn't initially want to restrict myself to making clothes", she says. "I made the brand while I was making a portfolio to send to schools abroad. I wanted to try various areas of lifestyle design from furniture to lighting as well as fashion".

But critics are already raving about Jung's clothes. "Nohke J's clothes look like something that only rock stars would wear. But once you take a closer look and dissect it one by one, you can discover subtle feminine beauty in them. Celebrities like Girls' Generation, f(x), Go Joon-hee, and Shin Min-a ask for Nohke J", says stylist Jung Yun-ki.

Nohke J was first recognized by foreign buyers when Jung joined a fashion fair here in 2009. A foreign buyer saw her work and invited Jung to casual tradeshow Who's Next Paris. Soon, an invitation to La fashion galleria in Paris followed, as well as a solo exhibition and sales.

Jung signed deals with several top multi-brand shops in Singapore, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Nohke J is now available at the Hong Kong branch of upmarket department store Harvey Nichols.

Leading actress Kim Hye-soo, who is known for her fashion sense, appeared in the film "The Thieves", the highest grossing movie in Korean film history, in Nohke J clothes.

"At first I made a lot of experimental clothes, but I'm beginning to introduce softer and more comfortable elements in my lines to cater for more customers", she says. "My clothes are for confident people who have a very clear idea what they want".

Jung says she is planning a fashion exhibition with a melange of various cultural genres. "A multimedia show would be nice, and so would be something that covers architecture and furniture design. My ultimate goal is to create a whole new kind of cultural content so that I can publish a magazine of my own".

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