As a lady in South Korea, Kristen Yoo walked with books on her head to domesticate a mannequin’s ramrod straight posture.
When she moved to Alaska as a young person, her goals of strutting down the runway light.
On April 15 in Koreatown, she lastly had her likelihood. At 59, she was one of many youthful contestants in a Silver Fashions USA audition.
Dressed casually in a saggy white shirt and light denims, she took a query from a choose: “How would you persuade somebody that you’ve what it takes to be a mannequin?”
She addressed her reply to her son, Josh, who died in an accident 4 years in the past, when he was 29.
“Josh,” she declared, pausing for a second. “Mother can do it.”
Yoo’s odds of profitable weren’t unhealthy. Of about 80 contestants, 20 to 30 can be chosen to work with Silver Fashions USA, beginning with a coaching program and progressing to runways at a trend present in Paris and on the Los Angeles Korean competition.
Make-up artist Junyoung McArdle, left, helps Grace Ju, 55, prepared for Silver Fashions USA senior mannequin audition (age 55+) on the Line LA Lodge.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Occasions)
For these older Korean immigrants, the audition gives an opportunity to meet goals of glamorous careers they put aside as they labored to place meals on the desk of their adopted nation.
The demand for older fashions is rising within the Korean American group, as a booming senior inhabitants seems to be for folks like themselves in ads and trend reveals.
Growing old child boomers have fueled an identical pattern worldwide. Maye Musk, 74 — Elon’s mom — appeared on the duvet of Sports activities Illustrated’s 2022 swimsuit concern. A 106-year-old Apo Whang-Od lately went viral as the duvet mannequin for Vogue Philippines.
Silver Fashions USA, or SM USA for brief (no relation to Okay-pop behemoth SM Leisure), advanced from a nonprofit to a full-fledged modeling company in January.
A few of the aspiring senior fashions get instruction from a modeling skilled on the right way to stroll and stand on the Silver Fashions USA audition.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Occasions)
Co-founder Jenny Cho hopes to attach senior residents to alternatives starting from motion pictures to commercials for medical teams.
“They lived all their lives working laborious and struggling, with out their very own lives, with out their very own names,” Cho mentioned. “They’re attempting to problem themselves to allow them to dwell a cheerful life.”
Yoo, who teaches English as a second language in Anchorage, mentioned she purchased her airplane ticket to L.A. 4 days earlier than the audition.
“In America, with a non-American face, I assumed I couldn’t be a mannequin,” she mentioned. “However I need to do that for myself.”
Earlier than the audition, make-up artists and hairstylists utilized ultimate touches for contestants ranging in age from 55 to 84.
Three girls practiced strutting in a hallway as an teacher clapped and barked directions, reminding them to not stroll too quick.
Company staffers disbursed suggestions: Look immediately into the digicam. Be pure, however stroll ssig-ssig-ha-ge — bravely or confidently.
“I really feel like I’ve turn out to be a star,” a contestant quipped.
Tammie Cho, 66, of Stanton, who was a cafeteria employee for many years and is now an artwork instructor, mentioned her black mesh costume “makes me look a bit extra skinny.”
Jae Hoo Hwang, a 59-year-old physician of Korean medication from Hancock Park, selected a shiny gold costume “as a result of I need to stroll the kkok-gil” — a path full of flowers.
“I have to shine to stroll that path,” she mentioned.
Grace Ju, 55, performs an expression on the path of an audition choose throughout Silver Fashions USA auditions on the Line LA Lodge.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Occasions)
The six judges included an actor, a designer of conventional hanboks and a health care provider from occasion sponsor Seoul Medical Group.
“We need to perceive the contestants’ motivation and fervour,” mentioned John Go, a choose and a senior mannequin himself. “We will see straight away if somebody has the expertise.”
The occasion started with contestants strutting throughout the ballroom to digital instrumental music as digicam operators captured their each transfer.
Judges requested wide-ranging questions, from how do you keep skinny to how usually do you put on a swimsuit.
“I don’t actually put on a swimsuit,” a male contestant answered. “I put on golf garments extra usually.”
After her audition, Seonghee Jung struck up a dialog with Sharon Kim, who’s already working as a senior mannequin for SM USA.
Jung, 56, studied theater on the Seoul Institute of the Arts, the place she was a hubae, or youthful classmate, of Kim, 62, who studied dance.
“In case you see me from behind, folks inform me I seem like I’m 20,” mentioned Jung, a former preschool instructor who’s a homemaker in Palm Springs.
Jung dabbled in modeling in Los Angeles within the early Nineties. Now, she has her arms full caring for her mom, who’s in poor health. She hesitated about auditioning, however Kim’s success impressed her.
She utilized secretly, telling her mom that she was going to see a buddy.
“I actually need to do that. … If I preserve pushing this off, I really feel like I’d not have the ability to do that,” she mentioned. “Once I placed on make-up, I’ve turn out to be extra assured. I really feel like I’m a unique individual.”
Rising up in South Korea, Grace Ju seemed like a mannequin — folks referred to as her “Miss Korea.” Her son fashions in Korea.
Ju, 55, who lives in Koreatown, got here to the U.S. a decade in the past on the invitation of her older sister, who was on the audition to cheer her on.
She considered her 89-year-old mom, who’s in a hospital in L.A.
“Earlier than my mom closes my eyes, I need to present her my greatest self,” Ju mentioned. “I need to present her how we are able to come to this huge nation and dwell otherwise.”
After about 4 hours of auditions, it was time for the ultimate stroll down the catwalk, that includes each hopefuls and present fashions, with Lizzo’s “About Rattling Time” blaring.
The winners might be chosen in a couple of weeks.
Yoo strutted towards her daughter, Paulina, who snapped cellphone images.
‘She has by no means performed one thing like this,” mentioned Paulina, who flew in from Denver. “I didn’t assume she would truly do it. … It made me blissful watching her do it.”
Flora Yi, seated left, Kelly Kang and Seong Hee Jeong wait their turns on the Silver Fashions USA audition.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Occasions)
