“I had a chance to be an LVMH finalist — there were so many chances I had to tell of my personal story. When I started this season — I’m a mom and a patternmaker; whenever I brought up my personal story, people would say, ‘Don’t say you’re a patternmaker, don’t say you’re a mom — that’s not cool, because you’re from a technical background, it doesn’t sound creative, or you’re suburban. I decided to put those things in the front while putting my personal story into the show to give people hope,” Ashlynn Park said following her beautiful spring collection.
The designer collaborated with a choreographer and dancer to open her gestural “Resilience” collection runway show with a red sleeveless viscose blouse and matching harem-style pant made up of a single shikaku square of fabric, part of her ongoing zero waste project. The pattern — also seen through fluid dresses and draped blouses — was replicated as a projection-screened outline on the runway floor.
The looks infused Park’s expression of motherhood struggles through draped, tailored and sculptural styles that referenced her background at Yohji Yamamoto (Adidas’ Y-3) and Calvin Klein. There was a singular long sleeve on the opening look’s garbadine jacket atop cotton giza shirt, alluding to being “pushed and pulled” by children’s vying attention, and inside-out, deconstructed tailoring that played to the idea of “running around like crazy and grabbing whatever you can find to wear.” Also, debut technical outerwear and new takes on both signature tailoring and puff-sleeved constructions (like a strong cropped nappa leather bomber with floor-lengthy satin skirt).
Park’s collections — crafted by a team of five people, including a patternmaker — are only getting better. Her spring assortment moved the needle forward while displaying new takes on her vernacular.
