A sweeping pandemic has put a mask on everyone’s face in 2020. Face-coverings becoming the new norm has also sparked creativity in the fashion industry. Sonia Smith-Kang, a critical care nurse turned fashion designer, creates art masks for people to express and proudly show off their cultures. 

Smith-Kang is the founder of Mixed Up Clothing, a clothing line focused on diversity and inclusion. Like her other apparel, her masks are designed with cultural element prints and made with fabrics ethically sourced from around the world. 

Piling through her mask collections, you can see prints representing many cultures—silhouettes of kimonos in different vibrant colors, white hibiscus flowers against a mint blue base, colorful Japanese kokeshi dolls on a black background, and other prints. Smith-Kang wants everyone to find a mask that represents their identities.

When sourcing fabrics, it is important for Smith-Kang to understand the fabrics as well as the people who make the fabrics. Smith-Kand said that she draws on her multicultural heritage and her diverse team at Mixed Up Clothing. For her, it all comes down to mindfulness and respect for cultures. 

The fabric masks also have elastic ear-loops, an adjustable nose wire, and a pouch in the back to insert a HEPA filter—Smith-Kang took advantage of her medical background while designing them. The masks are fully cotton woven for them to be breathable and withstand laundering. For every mask a customer buys, the brand donates one for people in need. So far, they have donated over a thousand face masks to the vulnerable populations. 

Smith-Kang’s passion for culture derived from her own background. Born in Puerto Rico to an African American father and a Mexican mother, Smith-Kang spent most of her childhood in Hawaii before moving to Los Angeles. Growing up, she always had a hard time relating to people around her. 

“I had curly hair, brown eyes, and a deeper skin tone – I looked so different from everyone else.” She said growing up, she never really saw anyone who looked like her, especially in the fashion industry. Her experience sparked her interest in culture and diversity from the start. 

Even when she was a critical care nurse, one of the things she always enjoyed in the hospital was discussing diversity and culture with her colleagues. She was curious to know about the relationship between health and culture, recovery rate, and race, among other things. This curiosity has turned her into an activist – she serves as the President of Multiracial Americans of Southern California, an organization that aims to advocate for the multiracial community. 

Smith-Kang started her clothing line, Mixed Up Clothing when she had children with her Korean-American husband. Her multiracial family further solidified her passion for expressing culture with her work. 

“I lived an intentional life where I wanted artwork, food, music, and books to reflect our multicultural reality,” Smith-Kang said as she talked about giving her children a more comprehensive cultural experience in their day-to-day lives.  

Smith-Kang decided to build her own brand in 2011. When the pandemic broke out, she knew from the get-go that there was going to be a shortage in protective gear. Her husband works as a critical care doctor in a local hospital in Los Angeles, which further motivated her to step up and switch gears to mask-making—even before CDC’s recommendation to wear masks and California’s mandatory face-covering order. 

Her masks have received a lot of positive feedback. Many parents also wrote in and said they loved that her masks had sizes for children. Smith-Kang said that she wanted to help kids that had anxiety wearing a mask – so the team made sure the fabrics were bright and fun.

Susan Yahiro Asklipiadis is one of her buyers who decided to use her mask to make a statement about racism. “I’m proud of my Asian heritage and picked a Japanese pattern despite the current acts of hatred happening to Asian Americans,” she said. “ My fabric choice reflects my action to not back down.”

Smith-Kang is also a part of a project called Sewing Circle, hosted by the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Over the course of this project, 18 artists, artisans, and museum staff members sewed 1,500 masks for local organizations in need. 

She hopes that during the anxiety-inducing pandemic, her masks can bring comfort to people. “For a lot of us, culture brings us a sense of security.” Smith-Kang said, “We want people to carry that sense of security in a physical mask.” 

Smith-Kang said the pandemic has also shifted the fashion industry in a palpable way. According to Vogue Business, from big department stores to small design businesses, millions of jobs were lost and many are struggling to keep their necks above water. Uniqlo, Old Navy, Outdoor Voices, American Eagle along with many other brands have also started making fabric masks. 

Smith-Kang thinks this shift is a good opportunity for entrepreneurs to be more creative and inclusive. “The key is to genuinely listen to what people from different cultures have to say,” she said. 

Edited by Demi Vitkute.

The post LA Designer Sonia Smith-Kang On Making Masks for Everyone’s Identity appeared first on The Urban Watch Magazine.

It has been a couple of years since the Korean music and dance craze hit the United States. The latest wave from South Korea comes not on a video screen, but in a bottle.

Korean makeup products and beauty ideals have recently become more and more popular in the American market. We discussed this phenomenon with the employees and customers at the Korean shops and makeup artists in New York City to gain some insight.

Concept Korea, the government-sponsored fashion show, aimed at helping emerging Korean designers to promote themselves outside of Korea, returned to New York Fashion Week this season—Spring/Summer’19. “From K-Pop to K-Beauty and now K-Fashion, there is no denying the talent and allure pouring out of South Korea in the past decade,” Fashion Week Online commented.

The rising popularity is apparent because of the increasing value of cosmetic and makeup products imported from South Korea to America. From 2014 to 2016 the value of the imported Korean cosmetic and makeup products in the U.S. increased by about 50 percent each year, according to the Korean International Trade Association. Last year alone (2017), Korean beauty products worth $367 million dollars were imported to the U.S. By July of 2018, $240 million worth of products have already been imported. The value is continuing to rise dramatically.

Min Goo, an employee at a Korean cosmetic store in Flushing, called the SAEM, said she has recently noticed more non-Asian customers coming to the store. Goo said the expansion of K-pop culture was one of the reasons why people beacame interested in Korean cosmetic products. “A lot of people walked in because they saw Seventeen in front of our store,” Goo said.

Seventeen is a K-pop boy band that models for SAEM. Goo said she went to a styling show during New York Fashion Week and noticed a presentation by K-pop celebrities on a screen during a runway show.

An another employee at a Korean cosmetic store, called The Face Shop, said she has also noticed more customers. “A lot of non-Asians walk into our store, looking confused,” Ji said. “They said they saw Korean nine-step makeup process online and they came here to look for the products.”

For herself, Ji said that after trying out various brands, she has found that Korean products work best for her. Ji’s skin is clear and bright, but she said that’s because she puts conscious effort in taking care of it regularly. “Some people have very high expectations of Korean cosmetics, ” she said, “they think it’s some kind of magical cream and they expect quick results.”

Diana Feltman, a customer at a Korean pop culture store Koryo Books in Manhattan, said she uses Korean cosmetics because it cleanses her skin better and gives it a touch of softness that other products don’t.  “I feel more confident in using products that make evident they care both for the health of the skin as well as the look of makeup,” she said. “Korean skincare is supposed to be five years ahead of time at any given point. ”

With its growing popularity, Korean beauty culture casts influence on the American population, but it’s important to acknowledge the differences between Korean and American beauty cultures.

According to Jenny Ma, an Asian-American makeup artist based in Manhattan, the difference can be traced back to hundreds of years ago. “Asians in general prefer lighter skin while Americans prefer being tan, ” she said.

Ma added that back in the day, only the wealthier Asians could afford to have servants who work outside on the farms. “So the lighter you are means the more royal you are because you will never have to leave your castle,” she said. “Whereas in America, the tanner you are means you have the luxury of time and money to travel to beach.”

Ma said that the colors of makeup and the application are also completely different in the two cultures: Korean makeup is more basic and people apply light foundation for a clean, fresh and youthful look; all the eye shadows applied are of a similar shade—coral orange. On the other hand, Americans apply a lot more makeup on their skin and they also contour their faces to look more splendor; use a variety of colors and shades for eyeshadows and lipsticks, too.

Despite the differences, many makeup artists have noticed the influences K-beauty has on American culture. Stacey Michelle, a stylist for Izon Magazine, shared her experience working with models in the fashion industry: she said a lot of them prefer natural and light makeup, which is one important characteristic of Korean makeup.

Koreans put emphasis on skincare and makeup, but some might argue that they go a step too far. Media often refers to South Korea as “the capital of plastic surgery.” As much as 85 percent of Korean women in their 20s think plastic surgery is acceptable and about 80 percent of Korean people think “appearance is very important to life,” according to a research company Gallup Korea.

Michelle said that she thinks some of the tricks in Korean makeup are “insane”. She commented on a video on Instagram in which a Korean woman removes all of the artificial elements from her skin, showing her natural face: “to make their face look slimmer, they will use a clear tape and they will also do it on their eyelid,” Michelle said.

“I think it is part of a tradition,” – Min Goo said in reaction to the focus on appearance. “But whether you want to put that much emphasis on your appearance or not is also a personal choice.”

The post Moving forward from K-pop, it’s the K-beauty era appeared first on The Urban Watch Magazine.