Fashion designer Eugenia Kim has a rare professional specialization - hat design. Her products are present in the wardrobe of celebrities of the first magnitude and crowned persons. How did Evgenia Kim turn into a star designer, and what determines the unusual choice of a profession?
Childhood
Eugene was born in Pennsylvania (USA) in 1974. The designer’s family emigrated to America from Korea.
Kim is a medical dynasty. Parents hoped that the daughter would continue the family tradition and become a doctor. At school, Eugene demonstrated outstanding mathematical abilities, which gave hope for her successful scientific career in the future.
Kim, in accordance with family expectations, entered the University of Dartmouth at the Department of Psychology. After the first semester, an unsuccessful attempt to move off the hill ended for the girl with a serious injury and placement in a hospital. The depressive atmosphere of the hospital destroyed the desire to become a doctor in Eugene. After recovering, she left the university and went to New York in search of a better life.
The beginning of a fashion career
The professional biography of designer Eugenia Kim is associated with New York. Here she took her first steps in the fashion world, learned how to create hats and founded her own brand.
Upon arrival in the Big Apple, a former student managed to take an assistant position in the editorial office of Allure magazine. Prior to working in gloss, Evgenia Kim had a poor understanding of the fashion industry. Thanks to Allure, she made useful contacts in a fashionable environment and mastered the secrets of makeup.
The editors of the magazine encouraged the desire of employees to profile self-education. Eugene went to hats courses at the Parsons School of Design. Kim explained the choice of specialization with broad prospects for the manifestation of imagination and a quick result of work. A hat, unlike clothes or shoes, can be made in one sitting.
Brand history
The name brand of Eugenia Kim was born due to chance.
By 1998, work at Allure, full of administrative duties, ceased to satisfy the girl. Kim quit her job and shaved her head in a fit of freedom. The radical result of the haircut and the cold New York winter made Eugene think about a suitable headdress. She applied the knowledge gained in the courses at Parsons and made a cloche hat decorated with feathers.
During the shopping, Kim in the original headdress was spotted by the owners of one of the boutiques in the New York district of Soho. She was offered to conclude a contract to create a party of the same hats. The first order launched the successful business of Eugenia Kim. Soon her hats appeared on sale at the prestigious Barney's department store and deserved mention in the New York Times.
Eugenia Kim opened a personalized boutique Eugenia Kim a few months after the start of the business. Among the store’s early hits is the haircut hat. She became a recognizable model of the brand and was repeatedly reproduced in the following collections of Eugenia.
Since the 2000s, Kim's products are in demand by celebrities. The first of these was Jennifer Lopez, who donned the Eugenia Kim wide-brimmed hat for the Video Music Awards.
Paris Hilton, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Madonna followed her. According to Evgenia Kim, her brand accessories are perfect for the stars, as they provide reliable disguise from paparazzi.
In 2002, the assortment of Eugenia Kim was replenished with men's hats.
In 2004, Evgenia Kim began to create shoes. Shoes with fur pom-poms quickly became bestsellers. In 2005, they brought the author the first award of the American Council of Fashion Designers in the category for the creation of accessories.
In 2010, the Eugenia Kim brand appeared on the mass market. Eugenia came up with a capsule collection of Cuban-style hats for the Target low-price department store.
The Do Not Disturb Hat is the most recognizable accessory of the Eugenia Kim brand. A straw hat with embroidery appeared in 2015. He became a regular hero of magazine photo shoots and a real star of social networks.
Since 2017, Eugenia Kim is not only hats and shoes, but also bags. Flavia's best-selling model follows the design of the Do Not Disturb hat.
