Creative Thought Space |
Soo yun Sophia Shin | Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea | www.artyfashion.com
Arty Fashion Designer & Housewife
What do you think being creative means?
Being creative is being truly alive. It means having enough courage to make your own personal decisions in life, to follow your intuitions and not just follow the ways other people want you to.
Each one of us is a UNIQUE being. So, being creative means not fearing to affirm your own uniqueness, originality, imagination and personality. Being creative leads you to enrich yourself and the world around you, to make this world more beautiful and worthy of living in, and life more interesting and full of surprises. Being creative is daring to step over the narrow frames society and others have built. Going beyond already-settled ideas and prejudices can sometimes be a painful and lonely task, but history proves it is worth doing. Just think of all the great scientific, artistic and cultural discoveries and inventions humanity has created throughout time, made possible because there was someone who dared to go beyond boundaries and preconceived ideas. And I am certain that every person has the complete potential to be creative in order to make one’s life sparklingly interesting.
How do you include creativity in your life?
Creativity resides in every area of my life whether consciously or unconsciously, especially in small, trivial things. From the morning when I choose the clothes I wear, (including my underwear as it is the piece of fabric closest to the body all day, and it can reflect or influence your mood of the day) and the make-up I put on; to when I choose ingredients to cook a meal; decorate the interior of my apartment; intuitively choose products while shopping; or when I communicate and share moments with my cats.
I do not have a fixed fashion style that forces me to wear things in the same way all the time. I try out various styles and colours and am constantly seeking my unique self. I do not feel old enough to have a defined style yet, so trying new things and changing, is my style.
To the eyes of my native society, my current “job” would be nothing but a “housewife”. But I continue to express the treasures of creativity deep inside me, building my fashion brand, and this keeps my life moving forward. Even my husband quit the well-respected and secure future of dentistry to follow his dreams. To others it seems crazy, but we know creativity allows for many dreams and possibilities in life. This is why we prefer to live, after all, this seemingly uncertain life. Faith gives much courage and hope and I know that, if you always keep this faith within and believe in the generosity of life, you will certainly be rewarded.
What are your thoughts on how your life has influenced your creative imagination, and how your creative imagination has influenced your life?
Since childhood I had to continually fit into the conservative and academic environment surrounding me. It was often a hard task, because I knew I would be much happier within a more creative and open-minded environment. Hence I often felt different, odd and apart in this world. As a result, my inner world of imagination was my best friend and I developed a great taste for art, before falling in love with fashion later on.
When I was living in Paris - an amazing city with a taste of dark chocolate - my creative imagination was developed and stimulated. Paris is a city of both art and fashion. Haute Couture fashion shows in Paris are truly rare and a marvellous cultural heritage. The idea of a bridge between art and fashion had been emerging in the Parisian fashion sphere, especially in this Haute Couture field. I had marvelled at John Galliano’s daring and decadent creations; at the very sensual and audacious world of Jean Paul Gaultier; at the poetic, fancy world of Chanel; not to mention Comme des Garçons, Viktor&Rolf, and Sonia Rykiel from Ann Demeulemeester…all their poetic fashion universes have been truly inspiring and have contributed to developing my own sensibility.
I know neither how to sew nor how to construct real clothes; all I have more or less is my artistic sensibility and capacity for drawing and painting. But this lack of professional knowledge and skill for fashion design has actually helped me to have a different and rather free approach to it.
Moving back to Korea, where I was always the unconventional girl, has been quite revealing. It sourced much personal suffering in my past and because of this I often blocked my creativity and ended up hiding my true self within chronic depression. Fortunately now I know that my difference is precisely my own strength, and I am able to see different possibilities in life. Although Korea is a very modern country with all its developed technology, economy and culture, people’s minds are still bound by traditional ways of thought. My husband and I don’t fit into their prefixed categories, and instead of traditional security we choose to lead a more nomadic existence which allows us to enrich our lives with other cultures. Now, rather than feeling a victim, I choose to accept myself without a complex. And I know I can always use my creative imagination as a magic wand, helping me to reinvent myself and my life incessantly.
What, if any, exercises do you do to get into a creative mode?
To get into a creative mode I like to contemplate inspiring images or listen to inspiring songs. Something not clean and smooth, but rather rough, decadently sexy and brightly sensual inspires me a lot. I sometimes think of something apparently imperfect yet revealing a certain depth of soul; or of women whose free mind and way of living amaze me, imagining that I, too, am a savagely free soul!
Sensuality is undeniably my greatest weapon for being in a creative mode. It is something every woman has, with all its subtleness and various nuances. I am happy to be a woman with the multiple possibilities it gives me to explore and reinvent my own feminine nature through various fashion items, make-up, hairstyles, etc. Indeed, feminine beauty and body are my essential inspiration.
The best way to get utterly into a creative mode is connecting to my “higher” self - accepting inspiration coming from the Universe, from nowhere or everywhere. These are times when creative ideas come just like that, when I am not concentrating on it, but doing other things. Everyone would have experienced this kind of thing, at least once in their lives.
How important do you think creativity is in life?
I believe that our whole life is closely related to creativity. Our intentions, our dreams, our decisions, our feelings each day, create the greater picture of our life.
With creativity, a dull and ordinary life can suddenly become more exciting and colourful. You can use creativity in every area of your life: for your style, for decorating your house, for playing a musical instrument, for writing your diary or poems or songs, for playing with children, for cooking, for preparing surprises for your loved ones, or simply for imagining the life of your dreams.
Quite a number of people consider fashion as a frivolous and vain industry. There is some truth in that, yet my approach to fashion is somewhat different. More than being a field of useless vanity, fashion can serve as an indirect expression of ourselves that we want to show others. Fashion is close to us - to our body, to our everyday life, in great occasions - and our being can be mixed with the cloth we wear. I love to express all the feminine beauty, elegance, chic sensuality through my attitude and style, because it is a privilege to be a woman. Every woman’s body is a sanctuary, and the cloth enveloping this body should make her feel flattered, unique, and sensually attractive in it. To be truly genuine through fashion, in an era where plenty of the same ready-to-wear products dress so many people, can be quite an interesting challenge. This is why one of my dreams is to fully develop my current work into my own fashion label, designing artistic yet wearable clothes in which every woman who wears them can find herself as part of a valuable piece of art.
In life there are many things to discover, to experience and to enjoy. I come from a culture where an individual often has to hide their genuine individuality and erase him/herself in order to become part of a greater societal group. But I sense that Korean people are waking up to the importance of each person’s uniqueness. Korea is a stunning country and Korean culture is always moving forward, constantly changing, which means it has infinite possibilities to evolve. Just think about the nowworldly-famous song Gangnam Style by Korean singer Psy! Its daring originality and humorous sexiness has brought joy to innumerable people around the world - and it came out of this very Confucian Korean society!
Being creative is being truly alive. It means having enough courage to make your own personal decisions in life, to follow your intuitions and not just follow the ways other people want you to.
Each one of us is a UNIQUE being. So, being creative means not fearing to affirm your own uniqueness, originality, imagination and personality. Being creative leads you to enrich yourself and the world around you, to make this world more beautiful and worthy of living in, and life more interesting and full of surprises. Being creative is daring to step over the narrow frames society and others have built. Going beyond already-settled ideas and prejudices can sometimes be a painful and lonely task, but history proves it is worth doing. Just think of all the great scientific, artistic and cultural discoveries and inventions humanity has created throughout time, made possible because there was someone who dared to go beyond boundaries and preconceived ideas. And I am certain that every person has the complete potential to be creative in order to make one’s life sparklingly interesting.
How do you include creativity in your life?
Creativity resides in every area of my life whether consciously or unconsciously, especially in small, trivial things. From the morning when I choose the clothes I wear, (including my underwear as it is the piece of fabric closest to the body all day, and it can reflect or influence your mood of the day) and the make-up I put on; to when I choose ingredients to cook a meal; decorate the interior of my apartment; intuitively choose products while shopping; or when I communicate and share moments with my cats.
I do not have a fixed fashion style that forces me to wear things in the same way all the time. I try out various styles and colours and am constantly seeking my unique self. I do not feel old enough to have a defined style yet, so trying new things and changing, is my style.
To the eyes of my native society, my current “job” would be nothing but a “housewife”. But I continue to express the treasures of creativity deep inside me, building my fashion brand, and this keeps my life moving forward. Even my husband quit the well-respected and secure future of dentistry to follow his dreams. To others it seems crazy, but we know creativity allows for many dreams and possibilities in life. This is why we prefer to live, after all, this seemingly uncertain life. Faith gives much courage and hope and I know that, if you always keep this faith within and believe in the generosity of life, you will certainly be rewarded.
What are your thoughts on how your life has influenced your creative imagination, and how your creative imagination has influenced your life?
Since childhood I had to continually fit into the conservative and academic environment surrounding me. It was often a hard task, because I knew I would be much happier within a more creative and open-minded environment. Hence I often felt different, odd and apart in this world. As a result, my inner world of imagination was my best friend and I developed a great taste for art, before falling in love with fashion later on.
When I was living in Paris - an amazing city with a taste of dark chocolate - my creative imagination was developed and stimulated. Paris is a city of both art and fashion. Haute Couture fashion shows in Paris are truly rare and a marvellous cultural heritage. The idea of a bridge between art and fashion had been emerging in the Parisian fashion sphere, especially in this Haute Couture field. I had marvelled at John Galliano’s daring and decadent creations; at the very sensual and audacious world of Jean Paul Gaultier; at the poetic, fancy world of Chanel; not to mention Comme des Garçons, Viktor&Rolf, and Sonia Rykiel from Ann Demeulemeester…all their poetic fashion universes have been truly inspiring and have contributed to developing my own sensibility.
I know neither how to sew nor how to construct real clothes; all I have more or less is my artistic sensibility and capacity for drawing and painting. But this lack of professional knowledge and skill for fashion design has actually helped me to have a different and rather free approach to it.
Moving back to Korea, where I was always the unconventional girl, has been quite revealing. It sourced much personal suffering in my past and because of this I often blocked my creativity and ended up hiding my true self within chronic depression. Fortunately now I know that my difference is precisely my own strength, and I am able to see different possibilities in life. Although Korea is a very modern country with all its developed technology, economy and culture, people’s minds are still bound by traditional ways of thought. My husband and I don’t fit into their prefixed categories, and instead of traditional security we choose to lead a more nomadic existence which allows us to enrich our lives with other cultures. Now, rather than feeling a victim, I choose to accept myself without a complex. And I know I can always use my creative imagination as a magic wand, helping me to reinvent myself and my life incessantly.
What, if any, exercises do you do to get into a creative mode?
To get into a creative mode I like to contemplate inspiring images or listen to inspiring songs. Something not clean and smooth, but rather rough, decadently sexy and brightly sensual inspires me a lot. I sometimes think of something apparently imperfect yet revealing a certain depth of soul; or of women whose free mind and way of living amaze me, imagining that I, too, am a savagely free soul!
Sensuality is undeniably my greatest weapon for being in a creative mode. It is something every woman has, with all its subtleness and various nuances. I am happy to be a woman with the multiple possibilities it gives me to explore and reinvent my own feminine nature through various fashion items, make-up, hairstyles, etc. Indeed, feminine beauty and body are my essential inspiration.
The best way to get utterly into a creative mode is connecting to my “higher” self - accepting inspiration coming from the Universe, from nowhere or everywhere. These are times when creative ideas come just like that, when I am not concentrating on it, but doing other things. Everyone would have experienced this kind of thing, at least once in their lives.
How important do you think creativity is in life?
I believe that our whole life is closely related to creativity. Our intentions, our dreams, our decisions, our feelings each day, create the greater picture of our life.
With creativity, a dull and ordinary life can suddenly become more exciting and colourful. You can use creativity in every area of your life: for your style, for decorating your house, for playing a musical instrument, for writing your diary or poems or songs, for playing with children, for cooking, for preparing surprises for your loved ones, or simply for imagining the life of your dreams.
Quite a number of people consider fashion as a frivolous and vain industry. There is some truth in that, yet my approach to fashion is somewhat different. More than being a field of useless vanity, fashion can serve as an indirect expression of ourselves that we want to show others. Fashion is close to us - to our body, to our everyday life, in great occasions - and our being can be mixed with the cloth we wear. I love to express all the feminine beauty, elegance, chic sensuality through my attitude and style, because it is a privilege to be a woman. Every woman’s body is a sanctuary, and the cloth enveloping this body should make her feel flattered, unique, and sensually attractive in it. To be truly genuine through fashion, in an era where plenty of the same ready-to-wear products dress so many people, can be quite an interesting challenge. This is why one of my dreams is to fully develop my current work into my own fashion label, designing artistic yet wearable clothes in which every woman who wears them can find herself as part of a valuable piece of art.
In life there are many things to discover, to experience and to enjoy. I come from a culture where an individual often has to hide their genuine individuality and erase him/herself in order to become part of a greater societal group. But I sense that Korean people are waking up to the importance of each person’s uniqueness. Korea is a stunning country and Korean culture is always moving forward, constantly changing, which means it has infinite possibilities to evolve. Just think about the nowworldly-famous song Gangnam Style by Korean singer Psy! Its daring originality and humorous sexiness has brought joy to innumerable people around the world - and it came out of this very Confucian Korean society!
