Comeback Kid

Known to her Instagram followers as @ireneisgood, Korean American Irene Kim is a breath of fresh air in the often cutthroat and competitive world of so-called “fashion influencers”. vincenzo la torre reports.

IT'S NO NEWS that South Korea is having a moment and that the country’s pop culture has come to eclipse the influence of Hollywood, at least in this part of the world. Irene Kim, who grew up in Seattle, is part of a new generation of Korean-Americans who, aware of this phenomenon, have embarked on a sort of reverse diaspora and decided to go back to the country their parents had left for a better future in the US.

After moving to Seoul, Kim started working as a model, and in spite of her decisions to not undergo plastic surgery and to dye her hair pink and blue (both against the advice of her manager), she’s become one of the few personalities to make it big both in the rarefied world of global high fashion and the buzzy reality of K-Pop. On a recent visit to Hong Kong, where she took part in a Max Mara photography exhibition celebrating the Italian’s label’s 101801 coat, Kim took some time to sit down for a chat.

HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN FOR YOU? 

I would say that all of this happened organically. I didn’t plan anything. I think that along the way I started planning, but really it was that I loved talking about fashion, posting about fashion and posting outfits. I guess people were inspired by it. I’ve just been myself throughout the whole thing; like I just felt like colouring my hair one day and I didn’t tell my agency and I just went in with blue hair and they were like: “You’re not going to book any jobs any more.” Because at that time, there was no Asian girl with coloured hair. I was modelling at the time and that season, I booked the most shows during Seoul Fashion Week. So it shows that when you do something, just do what you want and stick with it.

HOW DO YOU SELECT THE BRANDS YOU WORK WITH?