Minju Kim | Success story of the South Korean designer

Minju Kim is a South Korean fashion designer who has been making waves in the industry for her womenswear designs. She was named the winner of season 1 of Netflix’s Next In Fashion. She innovates with bold prints and unique details that keep things fresh.

Early life of Minju Kim

Kim was born in Gukangju, South Korea and studied in New Zealand. She originally wanted to attend art school and become a cartoonist. But her parents encouraged her to study fashion design at a university.

Kim claims the influence of designers like Walter Van Beirendonck ignited her love for fashion design. Later, she studied it at Samsung Art & Design Institute, then attended RAFA.

Career

Minju Kim, the founder of MINJUKIM, launched her company in Seoul in 2015. She is also known for starting her fashion shows with designs throughout each collection. Kim has designed two groups using Galaxy Express 999 prints as inspiration.

In 2020 Kim won Netflix’s fashion design competition, beating out British designer Daniel Fletcher. She competed with Chinese designer Angel Chen during the team-based portion of the competition. Also, both of them named themselves ‘Dragon Princess’. As a reward for winning, Net-a-Porter donated US$250,000 to help Kim launch her collection on their site.

Minju Kim’s latest collection, presented at 2015 LFW was richly varied and included items clad with Minnie Mouse, along with a more mature style as the models worked their way through the range.

Her designs progressively entered the runway with leather headpieces worn, peplum skirts and boxy crop tops cut to reveal shoulders. The girly styles previously seen in her work gave way to angular cuts and racier brassiere-style knitwear by Minju Kim.

Her future ventures

In terms of Minju Kim’s plans for the future, she said, “I always wish for people to feel my happiness when they see my collection. Sharing my emotions through fashion is my dream. Before I won the H&M award, my goal was to work for a fashion house. However, after creating two collections since, I realize how fantastic being a fashion designer is. This year I pushed myself really hard to make these two collections, and somehow I feel I can’t stop it now. I am so addicted to the joys of my fashion world. I want to continue on from what I’ve been studying, keep on making a lot of drawings, keep on dreaming – it doesn’t matter where.”

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