Hye-rim Park (Korean: 박혜림; born January 17, 1985), also known as Hye Park, is a South Korean model. Park made her runway debut during the Fall/Winter 2005 season.
Career
Her big break came in early 2005, when Steven Meisel shot her for Italian Vogue prior to the fall 2005 shows. After the shoot, she went to walk for major shows including Marc Jacobs and Anna Sui in New York. Her real big break, however, came when Miuccia Prada and Russell Marsh cast her in the Prada and Miu Miu shows during Milan Fashion Week. She became the first non-white model since Naomi Campbell in 1997 to walk the show, and just the very first Asian model to walk for Prada.[2] Prada is one of the most influential runway shows to book for an upcoming model. The Prada/Miu Miu bookings led to a flurry of bookings in Paris (Balenciaga, Chloe, Lanvin, Rochas).[citation needed]
In 2011, during the 2011 Fall/Winter collections at Paris Fashion Week, Park became the first ethnic Asian to model for two French fashion brands, Balmain and Isabel Marant who are reputed for hiring white models only.[4]
Personal life
Park was born in Seoul, South Korea, but immigrated to Salt Lake City, Utah when she was a young teen. She was discovered at an open casting call while attending the University of Utah in 2004.[5] As one of the few Asian models on the international high fashion scene, Park's debut in Fall 2005 was strong – Vogue magazine named her one of the top 10 models.[6] According to Xinhua News, Park's rise on the fashion scene – along with other East Asian supermodels Du Juan and Anne Watanabe – coincides with the renewed Western interest in Asia.[7]
In June 2008, she married her boyfriend of three years.[citation needed]
^Seo, Ji-eun (18 April 2011). "Hye Park rebounds, backed by Balmain". Joongang Daily. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.