Moon Choi (Q3437)
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Moon Choi is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Moon Choi |
Moon Choi is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
All parents should have children as attentive as Moon Choi. A single sentence uttered during a family dinner—“I can look back on my youth from your youth”—became the starting point for a fall collection that was rather mature. Choi, you see, decided to imaginatively time travel back to the era of her parents’ youth (the late 1980s, early 1990s). After studying their old albums, the designer landed on the idea of re-creating the space they inhabited through her clothes. The most literal of her interpretations were bold-shouldered coats featuring sofa-like tufting. Great for editorial images, their bulk might put off customers. Terrific lace tunics, shown layered or over tailoring, were inspired by table linens. There was even aGone With the Windmoment (although, that wasn’t the designer’s reference point), in the form of a curtain-inspired evening gown that was trimmed with an upholstery-style fringe and worn with a lampshade-shaped hat. An easier option for a big night out was a black velvet gown with a shapely, full slit that Angelina Jolie would know what to do with.Tailoring is Choi’s forte, and this season she applied it to denim for the first time to create jean looks that weren’t too casual. They featured a dramatically sliced double waistline and an “old Celine”–like front slit. As for the more traditional suiting, the check number with the side slit was a winner; a white trimmed khaki ensemble was most distinctively Choi.
11 February 2020
In a digital world, glossy appearances often mask more mundane realities, not to mention identities. Brooding on this public/private divide, Moon Choi decided to make spies—those professional masters of subterfuge—the main characters and inspiration for her Spring 2020 lineup. Though there was the requisite trench (updated with volume and double collars), this was not a collection for wannabe Bond Girls or Inspector Clouseaus; Choi played strength off of lightness while moving forward from her preoccupation with breaking down the gender divide. Having explored that idea several times, the designer found that distinguishing between feminine and masculine was less interesting than a sort of “third type,” by which she means a straightforward way to express identity apart from gender.This was, however, one of Choi’s most feminine collections. There were feather-light knits, and the designer’s romanticization of a spy escaping danger by parajumping resulted in some delicate and highly desirable parachute dresses. These, like many of her pieces, could be worn more than one way; in this case, they could be worn cape-backed or tied around the waist for a back-apron effect. Choi builds convertibility into her clothes by way of expert patternmaking and construction skills, but choices require confidence and daring on the part of the wearer. This gives her garments an inherent double life: one on the hanger, another on the body. Moreover, some options were more viable than others; where removable pockets added bulk here, an Oxford shirt with multiple button plackets that enables it to be worn straight or asymmetrically was spot-on.Known for her deconstructed tailoring, Choi’s half jackets (the backs were mostly open) for Spring wrapped, hug-like, around the waist. They were particularly effective when their neatness topped fuller volume below. Small touches, such as a pant detail on a jacket, were whimsical; a dress with a cape back made to look like a garment bag required explanation.Though Choi is not a designer who talks much about herself, in some ways, her clothes are self-portraits. Asked how the spy theme related to her own life, she explained that the life of a designer often looks fancy because of shows and models, et cetera. The reality, though, is very different, especially for someone just starting out. “I go home, and I work alone and really think about what I’m doing and if I’m doing it the right way,” she says.
“Because I’m still a young designer growing up, this [spy] lifestyle [read: having a dual identity—public and private] also really connects with my own.” It’s the designer’s ability to abstract aspects of herself into compelling designs that, in turn, connect with customers.
9 September 2019
New York has been saturated by so many emerging labels that buyers and editors face the insurmountable task of separating wheat from chaff, no doubt losing many precious grains in the process. It is the only reason one can fathom missing Moon Choi, the young Parsons grad from South Korea making such simply covetable clothes and possessing that rarest of qualities: a real ability to learn and evolve her fledgling brand.Choi continued to demonstrate this preternatural skill with her third presentation. Her first two were exquisitely curated, evoking a cerebral elegance with references to curios and the charting of stars. Though beautiful, this sort of jewel-box staging can become overly precious. Clever Choi exchanged it for something more modern: an empty soundstage, in which she erected a clear plastic structure framed with wood for a “circular viewing.” Light shone from behind through the panes, which were ribbed and frosted like fogged-up mirrors. At intervals through the hour, models walked around the structure and stood in place for guests to admire the well-made clothes.These were informed by Choi’s continued exploration of duality and fluidity. Here, she played with layers, creating petal-like embellishments on coat shoulders. On a practical note, she made two smart additions: jersey and knit items, which were a more commercial complement to her silk and wool pieces. Highlights included the stretch-jersey tops, twisted at the front not only to hug the body but create a sinewy trompe l’oeil curve, and a cashmere sweater with a snug hood. Matching double-faced coats came with hoods, as well, and though Choi’s genderless suits continued to ground the line, they were complemented by silk midi and stretch square-necked dresses to generate a fuller picture of Choi’s world.
13 February 2019
For her first Pre-Fall collection, designer Moon Choi delivered a plaintive meditation on loneliness. “Or clothes for lonely people,” she suggested at a private appointment. It manifested as a slew of beautiful jackets, dresses, and coats meant to embrace their wearer with warmth-giving gestures as summer gives way to fall.The key design detail Choi used to convey this notion was quite clever: The front right panel of a long suit coat was sliced up the front and slid through a slit hidden just behind the left panel’s lapel. “A bit like arms, like they’re holding you tight,” she said of the crossed panels. They could also be separated and styled straight down or tied together, if desired. Another suggestion of envelopment could be seen in the adjustable buttoned belt at the back of an excellent red knit polo dress—midi sleeves, a pointed collar, and buttons running down the front. Similar belts encircled blazers with horizontal rows of buttons on the outer waist and inner lining for adjustable cinching.Thick trenchcoats, boyish button-ups with removable color-blocked collars, pretty silk dresses, and pin-striped suits rounded out the elegant mix. The entire lot was shot in an old manor upstate, with fresh snow on the ground, and those beautiful images continued the strong, sophisticated evolution of the Moon Choi brand.[
19 December 2018
Bravo, Moon Choi! Today, the New York–based South Korean designer touched down with her first presentation on the official women’s Fashion Week schedule, and it was a strong showing. First the venue: The Refectory, a soaring, cathedral-like wing tucked in the back of The High Line Hotel’s cloistered 19th-century grounds. Guests crossed a courtyard through the midmorning drizzle and climbed stone stairs lined with white votive candles to find a group of models arranged around the room like sculptures.The collection was titled “Specimen 19”: Choi began with the mental image of a 16th-century cabinet of curiosities. “By creating this sort of museum, I can show more of my learning and design process,” she said. “These aren’t just pretty pieces, but my own exploration.” That sensitivity permeated the room. It all felt neat and ordered, yet warm and sentimental, much like a treasured collection of curios would. Between the models you might find a pleated scrap of silk, say, or a suspended trio of jackets that displayed Choi’s draping methods.Last season, this reviewer expressed concern that Choi’s collections, though lovely, played it too safe and risked repetition. She pushed through her boundaries today, expanding her design vocabulary without straying from her foundations. First, there was color: olive green and muted lilac, powder blue and lemon yellow. It lifted the collection. Tailoring and deconstructed suiting remain at the heart of Choi’s work, as does the blurring of gender lines. Yet this season, she wasn’t afraid to bring in more feminine to counter the masculine.Hence the silk dresses, whose seductive high slits were balanced by strong shoulders and demure mock necks. Choi also added corsetry and a few darted bustier tops as easy separates, paired with silk midi skirts. Ruching was scattered here and there, notably as a scrunched black velvet rope through a well cut cream duster coat. The designer also added sculptural resin jewelry—earrings and pins, used to close two pointed-collar tops—and pillowy bags, tucked under the arm.“I wanted to take it in a more elegant direction,” Choi said. Her collection hit the sweet spot of soigné clothes that can be hard to find, at a friendly price point, for all genders. What’s not to like?
11 September 2018
In a rather short span of time, Moon Choi has developed a reputation for beautiful tailored clothes that elegantly toy with gender constructs. For the first presentation of her year-old unisex label, the Korean designer pointedly chose an intimate gallery in the Bowery on the evening that New York’s men’s shows closed and women’s began. “It’s my debut, so I wanted to not just show the clothes, but present my vision,” she explained. “It will always blur the boundaries between masculine and feminine.”Choi was inspired once again by the image of a single figure standing by a window, cast half in moonlight, half in sun. Duality was the key word here, though it took several forms: the even split of male and female models, as well as the artful juxtaposition of cut and color to suggest the interplay of gender (a topical point, deftly handled). “I emphasized the broad shoulder with a belted waist, the heavy wools and the delicate silk, to show the beauty of that balance,” she said. Of the four tableaux staged across the space, three of them stood for day, wrapped in warm amber light with the image of an orange sun cast against one wall. It represented to Choi the collection’s softer, more womanly elements: a male model in a pale gold pinstripe jumpsuit next to a female model in a tan wool suit topped with a structured dark brown coat.Standouts included black and powder blue Cupro cotton blazers with clever “chokers” that were, in fact, the back collars sliced and placed up front, as well as a striped wool turtleneck whose sculptural curved construction created the illusion of shell padding. The gallery’s back room was shrouded in moody blue “moonlight” that enhanced the beauty of the strong-shouldered silk suits and double-breasted wool coats within. It was a safe evolution from last season (perhaps a bit safer than needed), but one can see Choi is carefully laying her foundations: clothes that make a statement simply by being lovely.
8 February 2018