What does an average day look like for you?

I normally start the day with a very strong cup of black coffee and put on some classical music to prepare for the day ahead. Pre-Covid, I would walk to our studio which is a lovely, brisk 10-minute walk from our house in east London but as we now work from home most days, I fire up the computer and catch up on emails before I start checking in with the team on Slack and Zoom.

We’re a small, close-knit team and I really miss working with them every day in the studio but we were all surprised how well we adapted to working from home during the first lockdown and we only go into the studio when we need to at the moment.

No two days are the same in a start-up world and that’s what I love about my job. My day ranges from a design meeting to a finance meeting, or a fitting to marketing, so it keeps me on my toes all day. Work doesn’t finish until quite late usually – around 8pm most days. I’m still working on finding the ever-elusive work/life balance!

Do you have any rituals you follow every day to get your creative juices flowing?

I find a brisk walk listening to great music always gets me out of a creative funk. I love any music with a good melody – anything from K-pop to classical music! I also love watching TV series and movies for inspiration. Particularly during the numerous lockdowns in London over the last year and a half when I couldn’t people-watch or travel, I’ve been finding solace in revisiting old favourite movies.

What was your journey into fashion?

I was born in South Korea and moved to England when I was 12 years old to pursue my dream of becoming a ballerina. I absolutely adore ballet to this day. I was 19 when I decided that I wanted to work in the fashion industry. I had this very abstract idea in my head back then that I wanted to work in the business side of fashion, so I studied French literature at university with the aim of working in Paris when I graduated.

Once graduated, I focused on getting as broad of an experience in the fashion industry as possible – everything from design, marketing, merchandising, finance and production. I think I always knew deep down that I wanted to start a fashion brand at some point. After a few years working in London for luxury fashion brands, I lived in Hong Kong for 5 years, travelling throughout Asia and learning about product development and production for European and American brands, then came back to London to finally start my own brand, Kitri.

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