Benjamin Cho (Q3865)
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Benjamin Cho is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Benjamin Cho |
Benjamin Cho is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
His show may have started an hour late (one notable store owner left before the lights dimmed), but judging by the partylike atmosphere in Benjamin Cho's front row, guests like Natasha Lyonne, Mary-Kate Olsen, and her boyfriend Nate Lowman weren't fazed. "I wanted to go back to the beginning of my career," Cho said. "A culmination of my years as a designer, but with new elements." Indeed, the 18 looks he sent down the runway were classic Cho silhouettes. Body-con minidresses and skinny trousers ruled, the former looking fresh with an architectural off-the-shoulder collar. The craftiness that has become a signature of sorts (all aspects of the collection, according to Cho, were done by hand) swung both ways. It allowed for quirky details like a sash of braided tassels or a sleeve trimmed with keys, yet some garments appeared unfinished at the seams. Were he any other designer, Cho's particular style would be better suited to a presentation format, but then the downtown set would have one less occasion to convene and lend their support to a friend.
8 September 2008
"It sounds kind of weird, but I literally craft day and night."Standing backstage before his show, amid heavily embroidered harnesses and a white wool deer's head (more on that in a minute), downtown fixture Benjamin Cho was making a convincing case that he's not all play and no work. For the past couple of months, the designer has been holed up in his apartment with artist friends like Tony Cox and Dan Colen, hand-finessing his appliquéd, spliced, woven, printed, and layered Fall 2008 collection. "When stores like Colette order," he said, discussing his more labor-intensive, intricately wrought garments, "that's what they want."But despite the crafty basis of the collection, there were items here to appeal to buyers outside the Colette-Barneys axis. The pieced cocktail dresses with sequin underlays, for example, are as close to the mainstream as Cho cares to get. Not that he's forgotten his core fan base of art school girls and those who love them: The deer headpiece, which came complete with antlers and topped a knit slipdress ensemble, was vintage Cho. And it got a big round of applause from his friends in the crowd.
3 February 2008
Ben Cho, a nerd? Mmm…not quite. But it was interesting to learn that he is "really into nature and rock collecting." That's not the first thing you'd expect to hear from a designer with such a cool following. (Today we spotted the MisShapes, Ryan McGinley, Chloë Sevigny, Jeffrey Deitch, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, who joshed about wanting to recruit their competitor to work for them.)Spring was conceived as an extension of Fall. So last season's mirrored hearts and butterfly zippers were succeeded by a top in the shape of an orchid, and twisted ropes and geodes lashed to and suspended from garments. "It's a basic idea I could have come up with when I was five years old," Cho told Style.com, "but [until now] I never thought of making into something more beautiful."However, thiswunderkammerof natural rarities was a bit too rarefied, the scope too limited. The silhouettes were mostly restricted to minidresses and narrow pants. Essentially, Cho's "rolling stones" were one-offs that probably would have been better served by an intimate showroom presentation than a full-on runway show—even if half of downtown did turn out to applaud.
7 September 2007
Benjamin Cho knows how to edit: His short, quiet show, held in the Japan Society’s auditorium, contained a mere 16 looks. The collection was sponsored by Shiseido, which has been backing promising new designers as a way to get their message into the mainstream.Cho is possessed of both technical skills and a sense of humor—a happy combination. His first look was a lightweight black knife-pleated jacket worn over skinny black pants whose white lacings started at a pair of Converse high-tops and ran all the way up the leg. This was followed by a lovely black jacket with a graceful cascading ruffle at the waist. The designer’s side-lacing pieces had some S&M charm, and there were clever dresses with circular inserts of gathered contrasting fabric, as well as pretty ruched tops. But ruching and lacing aren’t exactly new ideas, and—even with severe editing—the looks got repetitive.
11 February 2002
Having tested the waters with smaller presentations in the past, up-comer Benjamin Cho showed a full-fledged collection this season, proving that he is one of New York's most promising young talents.Cho's impressive tailoring skills were abundantly clear in his deconstructed crepe suits that morphed into flowing capes: A long jacket was sharply cropped to form a minidress, while its sleeves ballooned to enormous proportions and created a draped back. A black bustier corset gave way to a braided dress with tassels cascading over a long fishtail skirt, while a clean, crisp white shirtdress was anchored down with a triple-loop waist tie.Cho also showed a couple of stunning wide-knit dresses that sensually hugged every curve of the body and looked as if they were held together by the mercy of God.
14 February 2001