L BY L heavily focuses on femininity, and designer Yu Jung Lee hopes that her Vancouver Fashion Week show awakens the dreams that were lost to adult women.
Since her childhood, Lee always made something with her grandmother. She also learned how to use sewing machines and went to the market with her grandmother and buy fabrics, make clothes and had her own fashion show in front of her family.
Born and raised in Daegu, Lee studied at Yeungnam University and Donga University. “I taught students for ten years at the university, there was nothing interesting except for fashion,” she said. During her college days, she fell into stage costumes and began to make them herself. Stages and costuming were everything for Lee, and after graduation, she continued to make costumes. “While making theatrical costumes for one or two plays a month, I spent the night analysing the characters of each actor.”
Lee values each relationship that makes up her brand. She added that it is important to have a common dream and to achieve it makes their own dreams come true through the company. “I hope this company gives good influence and helpfulness to a community.”
Lee’s small team consists of herself and one assistant in her design studio. The daywear brand L BY L started three years ago when Lee was exporting her wedding and costume brand ‘LEEL DRESS’ to Europe, Middle East, China and Japan. Now Lee is expanding into international markets, but currently, has a pop-up store in Korea’s open market. “I think online stores around the world will become increasingly important and our brands should prepare for them. Social media cannot be ignored these days.” Even though it takes a lot of time and energy to do social media, Lee spends 24 hours on creating new ideas every day, and it would be great if she could have a separate social media department. “But at the same time, I want to engage more of my ideas and express my thoughts on design to my audience.”
Her biggest influence is God. Lee is a Christian and believes that in addition to living things, God created clothing. “I always think about how he felt when he made his own clothes of Adam and Eve, who was guilty of the crime and driven out of the Garden of Eden. When I think of the sadness and heartbreak, he felt when he makes leather clothes. We can feel the love of God as it is,” she said. “The slogan of L BY L is also ‘Clothes Made By Love.”
