A career modeled on luck but not color

A beautiful face, long legs and a modest smile may sound like model material, but for the 20-year-old Korean-American model Park Hye-rim never intended to conquer the fashion scene in the United States. Fate, however, seemingly willed her to.
Park is a 1.5th generation Korean-American (born in Korea, raised in America). She hit the spotlight in “2005 Fall and Winter Collection,” appearing in the show for Prada. Later she turned up in various fashion shows in New York, Milan, Paris and London. Over the last year, she has taken part in more than 100 fashion shows around the world. Her daring attitude on the catwalk and ability to look great in whatever clothes or make-up she has on is taking her to the top of the field.
Ms. Park immigrated with her family to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1999, when she was in middle school. While studying biology at the University of Utah, she auditioned as a model in October 2004, with little hope of passing. To her surprise, she was immediately asked to join the modeling agency and her career took off.
Her debut took place at a fashion show in Los Angeles. She had received no professional training and considered the show to be “practice.” Fashion industry observers, however, marked her as rising star.
She now appears on the cover of fashion magazines and catalogues. She was a cover model for the magazines Vogue, W and InStyle. She was also recently chosen for the fall season campaign for the cosmetics brand MAC.
Ms. Park’s strength lies in her “lack of color,” according to fashion industry officials, meaning that she can adopt the color of her clothes or cosmetics, a benefit acknowledged by Ms. Park herself.
Ms. Park recently appeared for a fashion show for Christian Dior by John Galliano. She said her next goal is to strut the catwalk for Chanel.
“I would like to overcome barriers and become a model recognized by everyone,” Ms. Park said. “I want to become one of top 10 models in the world.”

by Lee Jae-hee