LONDON — Rejina Pyo is celebrating 10 years of her brand not with a cocktail reception or extravagant party at one of London’s many members clubs, but at the Soho Revue Gallery, where she curated an exhibition titled “As She Is” on until Nov. 2.
The South Korean-born designer chose works from 19 artists including Ángela de la Cruz, Antonia Showering, Caroline Walker, Cassi Namoda, Jane Yang-D’Haene and more that explore the subject of womanhood.
Pyo contributed to the exhibition too with her own artwork, too.
“My work in fashion has always been a response to what’s happening around me and in the world, and often draws inspiration from art. I wanted to share that in a more direct, deeper way — to celebrate some of the artists that have inspired me over the last 10 years,” she said in an interview.
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Pyo added that she titled the exhibition “As She Is” after reading Christina Rossetti’s poem “In An Artist’s Studio.”
“Rossetti laments on the plight of women and how they are portrayed in Pre-Raphaelite art through the male gaze, which she felt lacked authenticity and truth, depicting them ‘not as she is but as she fills his dream,’” Pyo said.
The designer’s own work is titled “Mother’s Object” using artifacts collected by her mother over the course of her life in South Korea.
Pyo said her mother’s items have had a “profound impact on my aesthetic and artistic practice” and that the household objects and decorative antiques have guided her “sense of self and my creative practice” since she left South Korea nearly 17 years ago.
Celebrating 10 years of the eponymous label, the designer said she doesn’t take time for granted.
Pyo, who used to be a fixture on the London Fashion Week schedule, has not shown since spring 2023.
The business of staging a fashion show for many young labels has become an expensive and unsustainable practice that doesn’t produce results.
“You realize over the years that so many young brands have been pushed into doing a runway show before they have a solid business. When the sponsorships run out, what happens? They just close down and I just never really understood or wanted to be like that,” Pyo told WWD last year.
“It’s a bit backward because when you graduate from Central Saint Martins you’re really pushed into working toward a show. You never really understand what women are buying or how you need to survive the business side of it all,” she added.
The designer hasn’t stopped designing and has a store on Upper James Street in London next to Ganni and the trendy new restaurant Bébé Bob.
