A day in the life with NYC-based fashion designer Ji Won Choi

Girl Gazers, today you are meeting Ji Won Choi (@ji.won.choi), a dope NYC-based fashion designer who is 26 years old. Most of you probably already know her, because she was 1 of 12 designers chosen from around the world to compete in Amazon’s Original series “Making The Cut.” You know, that fashion show with THE Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum? Yeah, NBD. In the past, Ji has collaborated with notable brands like Adidas and has even shown her work at fashion week. In this episode, we are getting to know the girl boss behind the brand. We’re chatting Adidas collaborations, what it’s like to be a fashion designer in NYC, how to kickstart your career after college and of course what it was like to be a contestant on “Making The Cut!”

 

We kick things off with a discussion about the affect the BLM movement has had on fashion/beauty brands, the lack of diversity within the fashion industry and Ji’s personal experience with racism as an Asian-American designer (3:25).

 

Ji opens up about the culture shock and racism she faced growing up in Oklahoma (6:30).

 

When she graduated from high school and moved to NYC to study fashion design at The New School’s Parsons School of Design, Ji embarked on a journey to self-love and self-acceptance (8:45).

 

Ji developed a newfound passion and appreciation for culture, including her own, when traveled the world during and after college (11:20).

 

Upon graduation, Ji received an award to design and develop her first collection in Milan (15:20).

 

She gets real about gaining confidence in her abilities and touches upon the role manifestation plays in her life (18:35).

 

When she returned to NYC after living in Milan, Ji got the opportunity to show a collection at NYFW through a sponsorship with the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) (23:20).

 

Because Ji understands the importance of curating an Instagram aesthetic, her page doubles as a portfolio and has a loyal following (24:30). “Yeah, so the creative director of Adidas slid into my DMs,” Ji mentions casually (25:20). A simple DM quickly transformed into three collaborations and one London Fashion Week show (32:10).

 

Only a few years out of college, Ji is already making a name for herself within the fashion industry. Not only did Netflix ask her to participate in the competition series “Next In Fashion,” but Amazon also asked her to be on its version of a fashion reality show called “Making The Cut” (39:35). Naturally, we do a deep dive into everything “Making The Cut”: What it was like to be on a reality show, what it was like to work with and present her designs to an unreal judge lineup (Tim Gunn, Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, OG fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni, former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris Carine Roitfeld, designer Joseph Altuzarra and Nicole Richie), the biggest lesson she learned from the show and more (44:15).

 

We close our candid conversation with a gaze into Ji’s future as well as one last piece of advice for aspiring designers and entrepreneurs (1:03:10).

 

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@GirlGazePod

@TaylerBradford

@Ji.Won.Choi