Tropicana Magazine Jan-Feb 2018 #116: A Start From The Heart

GAME CHANGER
SOO JOO PARK SEEN IN THE
STREETS OF PARIS AFTER
THE CHANEL FASHION SHOW
DURING HAUTE COUTURE
FASHION WEEK ON JANUARY
24, 2017 IN PARIS, FRANCE.
“I was flying from one place to
another, and every successful
model has to learn how to
cope with that; mine was even
worse because I just get too in
my head. It takes a lot for me
to just kind of pat myself on
the back.”
which defines her from the above group, imbuing her
with a non-conformist edge. Only after dyeing her
hair did she end up on Chanel’s radar thanks to former
French Vogue editor-in-chief, Carine Roitfeld. The
bleaching takes its toll to be sure, but it has helped
maintain her visibility. And Park is unlikely to run
out of defining moments soon. The current issue of
W Korea features three covers of her shot by three
top Korean photographers; unbelievably, this is the
first time the magazine has devoted the cover to a
single Korean model. She realises all these firsts have
a cumulative effect. “It means something more and
more,” she explains. “And that, in a way, shows who I am
in this industry, especially because it’s an opportunity
for me to kind of make my culture; and I am.”
Interestingly, modelling was an accidental career
for Park. She grew up in Seoul until the age of 10 when
her family moved to California. Before fashion, she had
studied architecture at the University of California,
Berkeley (she can wax poetic about Bauhaus and Mies
van der Rohe). She is also a keen linguist: “I speak
Korean and English fluently. I picked up French when
I was studying in high school [and] speak a tiny bit of
Japanese, because it’s very similar to Korean.”
It was in 2010 that she was first scouted in a vintage
shop in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.
She recalls a woman approaching her with questions
about her height and age. Upon learning that Park was
23 at the time she apparently said, “You’re a lot older
than I thought.” Park’s reaction: “What a terrible thing
to say.”
TM | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 110