[Eye Interview] Working to turn Lie Sang-bong, LIE into global family brands

Lee Chung-chung, chief government officer and inventive director of LIE, and son of veteran fashion designer Lie Sang-bong, the founder of Korean trend residence Lie Sangbong, aims to mature equally his model and his father’s brand name into globally recognized labels.

“One of my desires is to keep Lie Sangbong a world wide fashion brand like Gucci and Prada. By highlighting the couture’s artistic benefit, I’d like to make it into a model that signifies Korea,” Lee stated for the duration of an job interview with The Korea Herald at a LIE showroom in southern Seoul.

Lee is also the executive vice president at Lie Sangbong.

The 43-calendar year-old designer started out working underneath his father immediately after his return to Korea at the conclude of 2010, self-assured of his abilities and competencies that have been already acknowledged in the United kingdom, he stated.

Immediately after attending Central Saint Martins 2 times – to start with to examine art and design and then to examine fashion design specialised in menswear — Lee released A.Hallucination, a menswear brand name, in London in 2010. He also gained numerous awards, like the Vauxhall Trend Scout award, which he received for two consecutive many years, and Fashion’s Best Awards.

Although he appreciated his privileged natural environment, Lee stated that possessing the “Lie Sang-bong’s son” tag pursuing him around has been a great deal of strain. 

Since of people’s prejudices, Lee in no way thought about becoming a vogue designer as a boy or girl. Developing up with busy doing the job moms and dads, he preferred to have an common way of life with a 9-to-6 task. Lee even majored in record education, intent on starting to be a teacher.

Lee commenced the 2nd chapter of his vogue career with his debut as a womenswear designer at the “Who’s Future Paris 2012.” Influenced by his father, who is a renowned couturier, he longed to start a womenswear model and introduced LIE in 2012. 

“There is no particular muse for LIE. We are rather inspired by the spirit of females who experienced the guts to acquire up issues,” he reported. He cited Amelia Earhart, who was the initially female to fly solo nonstop throughout the Atlantic, and Lis Hartel, a Paralympic equestrian who was the very first girl to win a medal towards males in direct opposition as illustrations of inspirational females who took on challenges.

LIE is marketed at specialty stores and section stores in additional than 60 nations, including Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Turkey, Middle East, the US, Canada and nations in Europe.

“The concept of the 2022 fall-winter season assortment began with an intriguing idea — a ski excursion to the Alps with your pet vegetation. Considering that the principle of being ‘friends’ with pet animals and pet vegetation has not too long ago turn out to be crucial, the collection prompt a blissful journey in majestic nature, savoring an apres-ski with favored pet vegetation much away from stifling metropolis life,” the designer explained.

“Enjoying and conserving the natural environment are critical. So the collection was developed using recycled elements,” he explained. He explained his luggage were being designed with an upcycling thought, collaborating with artist Yeon Nu-ri to give people a likelihood to feel about “the value of coexistence with the natural environment, fairly than noticing the magnificence or consuming it.”

Lee, who started overseas profits of Lie Sangbong and LIE in the early 2000s and 2013, respectively, reported Korean fashion’s placement in the global market place has altered a ton.

He recalled how Lie Sangbong’s place of origin was as soon as marked as North Korea at an overseas exhibition hall.

“Foreign consumers could not inform the variance concerning the two Koreas again then. They considered Korea was a region on the periphery of manner. But now they welcome Korean brands, question several issues about the product or service good quality and have faith in us.”

More eager interest from local distributors and consumers, coupled with trend labels’ active promotions can additional enrich the placement of Korea’s style globally, Lee explained. Sales of Korean manner goods in the state are considerably fewer when compared to other Korean information, despite its higher potential, Lee pointed out.

Manner is no for a longer period a item, but a culture, in accordance to Lee. A single of the manufacturer growth approaches for LIE is launching collaboration products and solutions in partnership with companies in numerous fields, which include substantial-close liquor makers, lodges, museums and automakers. 

Even though his aim as a trend designer is to build new values by mixing and matching features that all people can take pleasure in and displaying them by LIE solutions, Lee prefers to make a beloved brand name fairly than turning out to be a No. 1 designer. The bold designer aims to boost the concept that “Lie Sang-bong is to LIE as Prada is to Miu Miu.”

By Jie Ye-eun ([email protected])