Monday

Jaeha 08










“Call Me Princess, My daddy Says So” Was a follow up to Jaeha’s last years breakthrough show, since then Jaeha has been gifted or some say cursed with the label of New Zealand’s next biggest talent, a hard label for a 22 year old to wear well.
Staged in the beautiful white marble St Matthews in the City Church, the soundtrack formed out of the model’s towering heels keeping a melodic clomp
The show card touted Vaselina, Folk and Fairytale princesses as muses. But the girls Jaeha and Stylist Dan Awha created had the look of runaway princesses and lacked the glamour and sophistication that you would expect from such rich inspiration. These naïve princesses were transformed into veiled sexed up lace wearing dominatrix.
Goth princesses were wrapped, draped, and sometimes tied up in interestingly cut knit and chiffon dresses, all very on trend. The various shades of purples set against green over dyed paisleys were a step away from the graphic coloring that usually dominates and defines a Jaeha Collection.
Jaeha debuted a small offering of menswear looks, which appeared to be more opulent than that of the women’s, featuring oversized satin bows and a multitude of tie-dyed tees and leggings.
The air lifted when front row Stylists and Buyers started taking note of the summer weight looks rugged up with shaggy reconfigured vintage knits (that were show samples only, a cruel trick to play on those ready to place their orders.)
Jaeha's talent was unmistakable with the finale of three floor length silk cascading gowns, the relaxed elegance of the gowns fit for gothic Russian Princess Brides.
The 9.30am streaming church windows maybe threw a bit too much light onto the execution of the garments and the show as a whole. The men’s tailored trousers and zipped jackets looked very two dimensional and unintentionally awkward, problems easily rectified with the help of a Tailor.
Jaeha’s raw talent is undeniable. Will he be able to raise the level and execution of his work to match that of his strong vision, and give New Zealand fashion the new directional designer we seem to be crying out for?

Jaeha - Winter 07


The most highly anticipated debut designer of the schedule was no doubt designer Alex Kim's label "Jaeha". The collection titled "Tie Me Up After I'm Done," from the very first outfit, this collection screamed of showmanship such as international designers Gareth Pugh and McQueen.

The styling saw models strutting down the catwalk in high dominatrix style lace up boots wearing scissors for hands and heads covered in knit shower caps as if they were ready to put on a wig but decided that it looked good to go out without it. This sense of urgency was displayed throughout, with metres of fabric draped and around the body. The relaxed fit garments designed to be worn a multiple of ways, either synched in by a belt or tied. The refined colour palette consisting of black, grey, white with the hint of purple and sky blue serves for a girl on the run with no time to mess about colour co-ordinating.

The prominent use of zips throughout the collection reinforced the dominatrix theme through sexy slim jeans which zip right up the centre of the legs, an interesting take on the plethora of designer slim leg jeans to the quite frightening gimp mask with zips attached at the eyes and mouth. Jaeha also referenced the movie Edward scissor hands by incorporating his own signature scissor prints on to t-shirts, which should no doubt have mass appeal.

Jaeha showed a strong sexed-up streetwear collection with a top-heavy silhouette and although it would have been good to see a woven garment that relied on cut more in order to truly show his talents. This show demonstrates the importance of collaboration between stylist and designer in order to create an unforgettable show, which has set the bar for what to expect from this talented designer as well as other new designers in New Zealand.