Jekeun is a London based ready-to-wear brand by designer Jekeun Cho.
The brand’s philosophy is informed by Cho’s interest in psychology, specifically how we reconcile our internal self with the person we present to the world. The choices we make daily on what to wear extend beyond our wardrobes – using an arsenal of clothes, masks, actions and behaviours we dress up for the world around us as the people we think we should be. In an interplay between the choices we make, and the judgments of others – we wear what people can understand in order to be treated well.
The fundamental paradox of fashion speaks to this at its core; at once a promise of self-expression, and a uniform of trends.
This viewpoint informs Jekeun’s visual language through subtly manipulated silhouettes, re-interpreting the power of traditional suiting and military tailoring, softened and rebalanced to embody the interplay of confidence and shyness. Bold and vibrant colours and prints are applied to further obscure the silhouette, referencing how outward expression can conceal what lies beneath.
Tartan and stripes are a recurring theme through Cho’s work, orderly and well structured, but complex and distorted as they are applied onto the human form. Innovative knitwear techniques are developed based on the patterns and shapes of the human brain, inspired by MRI scans of depressed subjects, complex networks of connections, intersections, pushed and pulled across the skin.
As masters of deceit, we delight in exposing and concealing, enhancing and erasing; hiding what we fear and exhibiting what we pride. The exploration of this tension between the true self and ideal self, of authenticity and expectation, deeper understanding and appreciation of the individual, and how this narrative manifests itself within fashion, is at the heart of the Jekeun brand.
In exploring this, Cho works with charities and organisation in the field of mental health to better understand the nuance and complexities of this at the extremes of personality. Advocating for living openly, honestly, and in our true selves, his works seeks to foster the celebration of all that makes us each unique – the internal challenges we all struggle to overcome, the spectrum of experience and perspective this creates, and the potential of the vivid community we can create if we step out from behind the mask.
About Jekeun
Jekeun Cho was born in South Korea, with Japanese heritage, and studied law in China before moving to London to study fashion and founding the Jekeun brand. This blend of East Asian culture contrasted with the business’s Western European base imbues this perspective with deep narratives on the spectrum of conformity and individualism.
The study of law before turning to fashion, strongly rooted in social order, norms, and expectation created the context for a fundamental realisation that people are not what they may appear, and that perception itself can be deceiving once you look beneath the surface.
CREDITS
Styling & Production: @watervalue_
Photography: @josh.david.payne
Hair: @myujisato
Make-up: @soda_mua
Models: @ole_dautzenberg @joe.marchenkov @thsburke
Team Manager: @mandol_
Photography Assistant: @_______petar
Assistant: @jade.annalise
PR Agency The Lobby London