Zemeta – The Korean designer dressing the cool girls of fashion. Feminine, dainty yet sensual are just some words to describe this young and upcoming designer.
With the meaning of ‘holy present from the goddess,’ Zemeta is a namesake fashion brand that’s steadily rising for its youthful take on soft feminine aesthetics. The brand is founded by Zemeta Choi, who worked as a graphic designer for a fashion company. During her time there, the founder shares that she was always adoring the design team’s creative process. As she continues to watch and adore from afar, a natural interest in the creation of garments started to grow.
“I was really thirsty for making something tangible due to long years of designing things in a flat-screen monitor and that’s when I decided to buy a sewing machine on eBay and as a hobby, I started to make my own clothes after work,” Choi elaborates, on how she started thinking of starting a brand.
Image courtesy of ZEMETA.
Graphic design might be a field that’s not directly aligned with fashion design, so there were definitely some struggles during the conception of the brand. With no background in pattern making and tailoring, Choi took things into her own hands and decided to learn more about the necessary technical skills. As she was based in New York, it was only natural that she turned to the city’s garment district to learn the ropes, “I taught myself over the years and also went to pattern-making classes in Manhattan to gain more knowledge. Over time after so many visits to the factories and speaking with experts when making my collections I naturally learned the basics of construction in the garments.”
With this knowledge of garment making and her roots in graphic design, she combines both to produce the clothes we now see in Zemeta. She tells DEW that the pieces from her brand are initially sketched and drafted in her computer, from this base she continues to create a 3D mockup of the clothing before sending her designs to her manufacturers. This workflow has helped her communicate and help her vendors understand her expected result like its proportions and how it should fall on the wearer’s bodies.
Image courtesy of ZEMETA.
Recently, the designer announced their upcoming collection titled “Delusion.” In this collection, Choi diffused Zemeta’s core DNA of feminine yet subversive style with a touch of intricacy and romance, along with hints of the recently rising ‘ballet-core’ aesthetic. “This collection has video content and it delivers the concept very well,” she elaborates on the story behind the concept, one that explores the relationship between one’s online persona and their true self, “It seems like we are living in a delusion of inner self and social platform self and it all twines and becomes oneself.”
Amongst the collection are matching two-piece sets and even the debut swimsuit release. From the array of new pieces, Choi shares that the new variations of the brand’s signature Rag Ballet Skort are her personal favourite. Although the initial skirt was released prior to ‘Delusion,’ its success has inspired Choi to create new takes on the garment. A common denominator behind the entire collection is the soft feminine aesthetic that is blended with touches of Y2K essences like fuzzy textures, lace detailing, _____ – we won’t be surprised that this collection will be on the wishlist of any current IT-Girl.
Image courtesy of ZEMETA.
Speaking of IT-Girls, Zemeta has been a go-to brand for leading fashionistas, particularly those in K-pop. Jennie Kim, Rosé, HyunA, Aespa, and (G)I-dle are just some names who have sported Choi’s designs, some even donning Zemeta looks on more than one occasion. Choi shares that expressive people who have a passion for fashion are her main target audience so it’s no shocker that all those stars flock towards her pieces.
“I get so motivated!” Choi cheers, sharing with us how seeing such notable names sporting her pieces helps her stay driven. Looking back to before Zemeta came to be, Choi was working day to day in a safe 9 to 5, yet it’s these moments that remind herself that she made the right choice by taking the big step, “It reassures me that I am on the right path and no regrets of resigning from a perfectly stable corporate job in the 5th Ave.”
With such a successful turnaround in a career shift, DEW asks the designer what advice she has for younger designers, to which she answers, “I am not good at giving advice but I can say the action is most important. Acting as your imagination and believing that you are that person you imagine and act and make movements every single day. And keep yourself inspired and curious.” In the near future, Zemeta will soon be available in Urban Outfitters where her audience can easily shop her pieces offline. With dreams of becoming more confident in her brand, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for Zemeta. (Text Vanya Harapan)