The Geometric Architecture of Bare Necessities: Youngjin Shin and Hsin Lee

To create the image entitled "Forest Square" (currently on display inside the Finnish Pavilion at the 55th International Venice Art Biennale) Finnish artist Antti Laitinen felled an area of forest, removed the undergrowth, trees and roots and the surface soil, leaving in its place a black square of soil. He spent five months sorting out the stored materials, reorganising them into new units and colours and dividing all the pieces into different categories, from wood and bark to sticks and rotten wood. Laitinen then rearranged the materials onto an area divided in squares and rectangles, recomposing them according to colours and textures into a new image characterised by the geometric precision of a De Stijl arrangement.

In his small "Untitled (Nails and Wood)" sculptures, made from pieces of wood with their surface covered in the shiny metal flat heads of ordinary nails, Laitinen instead reinterpreted a building. The nail as an instrument for fixing things is indeed turned into a shielding and covering agent that entirely transforms ordinary wood into an armoured surface.

Stripping bare and constructing/reconstructing go hand in hand in Laitinen's work, but also in the collection created by menswear designer Youngjin Shin and textile designer Hsin Lee, graduates of the School of Fashion at San Francisco's Academy of Art University.

The collection, that mixed Jackson Pollock's style with the moods of the Great Depression, was showcased in May during the school's fashion show.

This fashion and textile design collaboration was filtered through geometric architecture, a reference that was clean in the boxy shapes and silhouettes.

Rather than finding the most appropriate relationship between the components of a building, Shin focused on pattern construction to determine the geometric relationships between body and clothes and find proportioned geometric forms for wearable garments.

Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Youngjin Shin: I was born and grew up in Seoul, South Korea. I came to AAU in San Francisco four years ago and graduated this Spring. I'm ready to jump into the industry, so I'm looking for a job at the moment!

What's the most important thing you learnt from your years at AAU?
Youngjin Shin: Simply…fashion! From the idea to developing a collection and creating real garments, so the total picture.

Who has been the greatest influence on your career choices?
Youngjin Shin: After I watched JUUN.J’s collection at Seoul Fashion Week I decided I wanted to be a fashion designer. My family approved my choices and supported me when I decided to come to AAU. Chris Applegate, Menswear Construction lecturer, and John Bauernfeind, Menswear Design coordinator, helped me finding my path and become a menswear designer.

Can you tell us more about your creative process?
Youngjin Shin: I normally start with a muse – a guy – and incorporate my inspirations into him. The inspiration could come from what I see in my daily life, or in a book, on the Internet, or the people on the street. I then research about the inspirations to get a deeper meaning behind them and start turning my ideas into sketches, thinking about colors and grabbing fabric swatches to see how the combinations of fabric and colors work. As I process these steps and they evolve, the collection develops.

How did you feel at showcasing your collection at the Academy of the Arts fashion show?
Youngjin Shin: I felt very honored to be showing my collection there. It was really a great opportunity to challenge myself.

What inspired your graduate collection?
Youngjin Shin: One of the first inspirations was the way Jackson Pollock dressed. Then my inspirations went on to incorporate ideas from men's wear designs from the '40s and the '50s. The silhouettes were inspired by the geometric shapes of architectures.

What kind of materials did you employ to recreate the rigid shapes and silhouettes of your designs?
Youngjin Shin: I used basic cotton, denim and wool to create the shapes and silhouettes I wanted. The clean lines derive from the patterns. As I said, the inspiration for the silhouettes came from geometric architecture and, to make sure geometry was properly adapted to the human body, I needed a lot of mathematical calculations so that all the seams matched perfectly and the clothes hung straight.

What are your future plans?
Youngjin Shin: My next step would be to jump into the industry with the set of skills that I acquired. My design method is focused on creating wearable menswear for an active consumer characterised by clean, precise and modern yet classic lines at the same time. I have a vision for designs that are athletic yet elegant, characterised by a streetwear twist, but featuring classic elements. This is why I would like to work for a sportswear company and try and understand more about functional sport designs, while getting more experience on a professional level and becoming a better designer.