Jackie JS Lee has used her MA in Fashion, specializing in womenswear, to springboard her career, launching a collection for world-famous department store, Harrods. Vogue UK, called it: “A collection that had a menswear and minimalist feel with clean lines, shirt over trousers and prim little collars.” Not too bad a start to a career in fashion!
Her master's degree, she feels, was instrumental: “If the BA encourages you to explore the creativeness and innovation of fashion, the MA is the study where you evolve those skills to communicate professionally with the real fashion industry.”
Dedication to the cause
As with anyone who has found success in the fashion industry, the career highs come after a lot of hard work. “I spent seven years in Seoul Korea as master pattern cutter for Qua, Codes-Combine, Jack and Jill and two years at KISA London,” Jackie says. However, she was able to use all the knowledge she built up in her work for her MA. “My design talent was the foundation for my work and my knowledge of pattern cutting and work experience helped me complete the course successfully.”
Every fashion designer has to create a new collection every season and Jackie is no different. These annual deadlines force her to focus her talents. “It involves creative work like research to design, but it also involves high organization skills to deliver the output in time.” At the moment Jackie is based in London, but she is planning to develop into an international label over the next ten years. “I will keep on producing my own collection which will be sold in all the major cities in the world. Also, by then I will have the J. JS Lee signature look which would be recognized by people.”