Doo.Ri
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The Label
In 2001, Doori Chung started hawking her label, Doo.Ri, at her downtown store Klee, and she debuted on the runway for fall 2003. Before getting a much-needed boost financially and psychologically from an Ecco Domani award and a finalist slot for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, she had been working out of the basement of her parents’ New Jersey dry-cleaning store. This year, she won the coveted CFDA’s Swarovski Perry Ellis award for womenswear. Editors and shoppers alike love her designs for their interesting architectural details that are rarely tricky. She works in ever-flattering jersey that drapes, gathers, and droops in all the right places, adding small touches—chains closing a dramatically plunging back line, leather bands cinching the waist—to each piece.
The Look
Smart, slouchy sophistication.
The Designer
The Parsons grad scored the post of second assistant at Geoffrey Beene, but only two months into the gig, first assistant Alber Elbaz left for Lanvin, leaving Chung holding the Beene bag. But Chung hit her stride under the watchful eye of Old Guard Mr. Beene and remained head designer there for almost seven years.
