JEKEUN YOUNG MINDS CAPSULE

London-based menswear brand Jekeun joined forces with Young Minds, the charity fighting for young people’s mental health to create a capsule collection. The Jekeun Young Minds Capsule Collection is out on sale. The money raised will go towards helping Young Minds.

Credits

Photographer Guy Bolongaro

stylist Riccardo

 

TEARS ARE UNACCEPTABLE

He sobbed, shivered, and cried, and uttered unintelligible words as he dropped into my arms while tears flowed down his eyes like waterfalls.

“It’s ok, it’s all right. It’s going to be all right.” That was all I could say fully aware of the fact that nothing I could say would soothe him right now.

I had just returned after a late night out in Hanoi, Vietnam, and found my best mate and manager of the hostel where I taught English and lived with the students, torn with heartache.

He had been smitten with this girl in the hostel for a while. The last few days, I saw him busy making a set of gift boxes one inside another, like the Russian dolls, all decorated with stickers and trinkets. He was preparing to pop the question.

It had clearly not gone the way he wished it would. But by morning everyone in the hostel knew about Samuel’s meltdown, something that was not considered appropriate even for the girls.

“Tears represent weakness. You are allowed to feel sad but it’s not ok to show it. You have to keep it in your heart and let its fire turn your bronze heart into gold.” Advised old aunt Huane who cooked for the students.

This outdated stereotypical ideology may have faded in Western cultures but its stains certainly remain.

Social media has certainly added fuel to this fire. A huge number of young people feel inadequate and vulnerable. Fashion can play a big role in highlighting the issue and making it more acceptable for young people to feel that it’s okay not to feel ok.

JEKEUN & YOUNG MINDS CAPSULE COLLECTION

Menswear designer Jekeun Cho from Jekeun has partnered with young people’s mental health. Charity Young Minds to create an upcycled capsule collection. To do his bit to increase the much-needed awareness of the issue. The funds raised from the sale of the clothes will be used by Young Minds. To ensure that young people can get the support they need.

Jekeun is not only a big supporter of circular fashion. But he also has a keen interest in human psychology. Specifically how we reconcile our internal self with the person we present to the world.

“The choices we make daily on what to wear extend beyond our wardrobes –using an arsenal of clothes, masks, actions. Behaviors we dress up for the world. Around us as the people we think we should be. In an interplay between the choices we make, and the judgments of others. We wear what people can understand in order to be treated well.” Says the brand’s website.

He truly believes that the way we dress up can make a big difference. On how we feel on the inside and can aid in our self-confidence.

The capsule collection went out on sale yesterday. So if you want to grab a hand on the remaining one-off pieces, you better hurry before they are all gone. Click here to check out the pieces

But most importantly remember that it’s ok to feel. The way you do and there are always steps. You can take to make you feel better inside and out.