Fashion Genius Collects Stars - Chapter 89



Only Noblemtl

Episode 89 Shetland

“We’re going on a two-month trip. But I want you to promise me something. No matter how hard it is, don’t cry. Let’s enjoy every moment. As if we were different people for a little while and living a different life.”

* * *

A fishing village on the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland.

A night when all the members of School Zone are asleep.

Yeo Min-seo sat at her desk with the stand turned on, not falling asleep alone.

She spread out her neat diary and wrote down her day’s records.

– This time, the PD was right. It’s only my third night here… … Strangely, I feel like I’ve been living like this on this island my whole life.

Outside the window, the sound of waves can be heard, and the wooden building occasionally makes a creaking sound in the strong wind.

– Wasn’t it all a dream? Me becoming an idol. Getting all kinds of hate. And meeting the PD… … Ah. That shouldn’t be a dream.

Yeo Min-seo giggled.

Coming to the other side of the world and living in a fishing village where she had never lived before… … she felt, for some reason, at ease.

– It was only three days, but each day was full and tiring. I would wake up at dawn, go fishing all day, and do hard work on the boat. The next day, I would peel sheep. Then, at night, I would fall asleep with sore muscles… … . What is this? Who am I and why am I here? When I finally came to my senses, I was in a house where I could hear the sound of waves. This kind of life exists too… … .

Yeo Min-seo stopped writing for a moment and closed her eyes. She felt a tingling pain all over her body, especially in her arms, back, and legs.

– I’m actually quite satisfied with the present, but Emily complains all day long. ‘I’m going to leave this damn country town.’ She mutters in English. When she does that, she really seems like a rebellious girl who’s been waiting her whole life to escape from here. On the other hand, Han Min-ha does a good job here and gets along well with the local fishermen. She’s like the daughter of the village chief.

Yeo Min-seo laughed out loud, then lowered her head and groaned because her body ached.

– Oh, but today I met someone my age. It was my first time seeing him. Our age. We ran into each other at a restaurant, and he seemed curious about us, so he came over and chatted for a while before leaving. He said he was a K-pop fan, and he even knew our school zone. Something… … It’s all strange. It’s strange. And strange again.

After finishing writing her diary like that, Yeo Min-seo carefully stretched.

I can’t believe I’ll be leaving this fishing village in two days…

Suddenly, a fundamental question occurred to her: What does this have to do with finding her own concept? But she soon forgot about it.

Oh, how is it? For the first time in years, I feel this at ease.

“Ah… … . I don’t want to leave.”

After mumbling that, I quickly forgot about it. When you’re tired, you can’t help but have idle thoughts.

Yeo Min-seo crawled into her bed and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Honestly, I didn’t know either.

I didn’t know the kids would follow along this well…

The kids were so enthusiastic that it was embarrassing to get their pledges while setting the mood at the airport.

Taking the idol girls out to the cold northern seas to fish… … That’s crazy.

But I followed along without any questions.

The camera director who always follows the program around also seemed happy, saying that he captured many interesting scenes.

And me too.

I learned and felt a lot.

“Depending on the breed, sheep have different colors and different textures of fur, right? Hmm. Now I know exactly what Shetland sheep are like.”

The Korean fashion industry was by no means small in scale, but it was far from being comparable to the world’s top class.

The same goes for fabrics.

There were many fabrics that were not available domestically.

There were so many cases where I saw an ideal type and thought, ‘Okay! I’ll get this right away!’ and went to the market only to not be able to find even a similar fabric.

Sometimes I wonder if I should just make the fabric myself, but I soon realize that that is also a problem.

The most basic condition that determines the color, gloss, weight, and flexibility of the fabric is the material.

The problem is that there is a limit to the raw materials that can be obtained in Korea. For example, even if Shetland wool is imported into Korea, it is mostly imported as a processed yarn, and there is almost no case of importing the wool itself and processing it.

You might think that all you need to do is prepare the materials, but that’s not the case.

Even with the same material, the results are completely different depending on how it is processed into thread, how the thread is woven into fabric, and how it is dyed.

Ultimately, to make the fabric I wanted, I had to find the right material, spin the yarn accordingly, dye it, process it, weave it, and finish it.

This way, I get the gloss, texture, weight, flexibility, color, etc. that I want.

It’s very complicated.

So, usually, everything related to fabric was left to the fabric factory owners, and brands were busy buying fabric from the market and using it.

Only large corporations or luxury brands can produce their own fabrics.

however…….

I didn’t want to do that.

Honestly, for me, who has the fraudulent ability to browse ideal types, to just settle for the same method as everyone else, it felt a bit fatal.

With great power comes great responsibility. Well, not necessarily something as grand as that.

If you have acquired such great abilities and can live in this world with ease… … shouldn’t you be able to achieve something more?

It was half out of a sense of duty and half out of a desire for a challenge.

The reason I chose Shetland as my first travel destination and gathered information and studied by seeing the process of shearing and processing sheep wool is because

Even if it wasn’t right now, I had an ambitious goal in my heart to one day use countless materials from around the world to create fabrics the way I imagined and use them to make clothes.

So, I came all the way here.

I’m thinking of taking this opportunity to study fabrics too.

of course.

This is a secondary goal.

The first goal, of course, was to help each of the School Zone members find their own concept.

Here, I hoped to learn and feel the atmosphere of nature, which is strong and rough, like the Shetland sheep that grew up in the strong winds and rain.

So as soon as I got here, I took him on a fishing boat and sent him to a wool ranch.

and,

Today is the last night.

It was time to get back to work and finish the show.

“Wow. This is really a rural area. I found it myself, but I think I really found the right place. It’s been a while. Designer Lee Yong-won!”

PD Kim Jun-il, who flew in from Korea today, smiled brightly and shook my hand.

I hadn’t seen her in a few days, but there were already dark circles under her eyes.

It must have been very tiring to take care of this while also doing your original work.

But I’m just grateful that you’re doing a perfect job.

“Thank you for your hard work coming such a long way. Have you checked the footage the camera director took?”

“Yes. I just watched the video the whole time I was on the plane. It would be so much fun if I could do it right? Rather, maybe because I wasn’t there, it felt like a real variety show. Well. It’s not that stimulating and fun, but… … . I guess we can get that today, right?”

“That will happen.”

We smiled and looked forward.

This was the largest pub in a small town on the Shetland Islands with a population of about 1,000.

Here today we will perform to commemorate the last night.

“So. Why did you come all the way here?”

Somehow I had the feeling that PD Kim Jun-il’s questions sounded like interview questions, and sure enough, the camera director was already pointing his camera at me.

I answered without saying anything and just looked at the camera naturally.

“There are many things I hope School Zone learns from this trip, but one of them is people.”

“Are you a person?”

“Yes. After all, idols are people who sing to other people. So, you have to know what kind of people are listening to your songs.”

“In this English countryside?”

“Because we are a group aiming for the world of School Zone. I wanted to let people know that there are people like this. People who fight against the cold waves and ride on boats. People who raise sheep while enduring the wind and rain. And when the evening comes, they all gather at a pub and have a drink. Let’s sing a song for those people.”

“But I don’t think there will be many people like this among those who listen to the School Zone song.”

“I’m going to travel all over the world from now on. From rural areas like this to big cities. I’m going to learn things one by one.”

“Hmm… … .”

Kim Jun-il nodded.

“So now it’s the last night, what are we doing today?”

“It’s a performance.”

“A performance! I couldn’t miss it.”

“Yes. The same song can have different feelings depending on where you sing it and who you sing it to. I’m sure there’s something to learn.”

With those words, the camera director took a sweeping shot of the pub.

A pub decorated with rustic wooden chairs and desks made of red wood and yellowish lighting.

All over the place, men wearing sweaters and checked shirts are chatting away noisily.

Stubborn white men from Scotland who know where Korea is, but aren’t particularly interested in it.

A young man and woman seen very rarely.

A place where there are many people who have never heard of K-pop, and even if they have, most people are not interested in it.

Today, School Zone will perform in front of these people and in this place.

Finally, the time for my appointment with the pub owner arrived.

Bam!

The lights in the store went out.

“Huh? What is it?”

“There’s a power outage?!”

“Light the candles!”

The store becomes even more noisy when the lights go out.

The gruff-looking store owner did not respond to each and every one of the loud complaints, but simply turned on the lights on the makeshift stage in front.

“Huh? What did you see?”

“Oh. Now that I think about it. There was something written on the front. What kind of performance are you doing? Someone from Korea?”

“Oh. Could it be them? There are girls who go around town these days doing all sorts of things.”

“Korea? Are you talking about North Korea?”

“Is Kim Jung Un’s band coming out?”

The loud, shouting voices usually meant, ‘What is it? I’m not really interested.’

That I am just seeing this situation as a joke.

but,

I send a signal,

“Hello!!!”

The moment American Emily Cruz confidently greeted us and entered the stage, the atmosphere changed.

“Oh?!”

“Oh! What is it?”

“Isn’t it pretty?”

Today’s children’s outfit included leather shoes, a Shetland wool sweater with an intricate pattern, and a check shirt.

There’s even a jacket made from tweed fabric that originated in Scotland!

Some people wore a checked shirt under a sweater, showing their collars. Some wore a baggy shirt over a sweater. Some wore just a shirt with a tweed jacket. Emily even wore a bonnet.

The colors are based on the neutral, neutral tones often seen in this fishing village, with small points of fluorescent orange, which is often worn by fishermen.

“Whew! Nice!”

The response was extremely favorable.

That’s how it was originally.

It’s similar to how soldiers see military uniforms all the time, but when idols wear them, they shine and are somehow liked.

In this Shetland Island, where Asians are bound to be unfamiliar, pretty Asian girls come out wearing clothes and colors familiar to fishermen?

It is inevitable that a sense of inexplicable familiarity and favorability will increase.

“Oh. Are you singing?”

“Be quiet. I can’t hear you!”

The pub, which was so noisy that you couldn’t hear anyone even if they shouted, gradually became quiet.

The tension subsided on the faces of the children who felt the atmosphere.

Well, Emily, who looks like a typical rebellious fishing village girl, didn’t seem to be nervous from the beginning.

“Okay! Then let’s go with the first song!”

Emily took the lead and shouted-

Immediately, MR flowed out from the store’s speakers.

The first song is the most exciting one.

The title of the first album was .

‘Yeah, this is it.’

My eyes scan the pages of my ideal type.

The places and costumes that children find most appealing when set in Scotland.

That was unfolding right before my eyes.

This atmosphere. I flew all the way here to see this.

He said he caught meat and sheared sheep.

Seriously… … .

It was beautiful.

I could see the stupid faces of the Scottish men slowly unfolding, and I could see the camera director frantically capturing it on his lens.

Like this, one by one… … .

Our children will collect all the charms they can display.