Spotlight On: Yoon AMBUSH
Every day is International Women’s Day here at The Sole Supplier, but to celebrate the occasion this week, we want to shine the spotlight on some of our favourite influential women from the sneaker, fashion and beauty industries.
First up, we have Yoon Ahn. The first woman to collaborate with Nike and the NBA, 75 long years after its conception, and a boss-ass individual who Vogue described as “one of the most influential forces in fashion”, notably choosing to leave her gender to one side and define Ahn as a designer to be reckoned with. Period.
Yoon Ahn, more commonly known as Yoon AMBUSH, is first and foremost a Korean-American jewellery designer, currently living in Tokyo with her husband, Verbal. Ahn is both the co-creative director of her company, AMBUSH, as well as Director of Jewellery Design for Dior Homme.
The world-famous AMBUSH debuted in 2008 and quickly caught the eyes of many. Having since collaborated with the likes of A Bathing Ape, Nike, Dr. Martens, Off-White and sacai, SSENSE described Ahn’s fast-moving and flourishing influence in the fashion and jewellery scene as a “world takeover”.
Predominately a jewellery company, AMBUSH pieces were often seen on famous rappers such as Kanye West and Big Sean during the mid-to-late noughties. Mr. West is most famously known for donning the AMBUSH POW! pendant, inspired by both American pop art and Japanese hip-hop. We’re not here to talk about the men, however. More notably, Rihanna has often taken men’s fashion and jewellery and ignored any sense of gender assignment and worn what she wants. We agree! If you like something, go ahead and WEAR IT. She’s also been spotted in AMBUSH jewellery: *cough* Paper Magazine 2017 *cough*!
Yoon has long since dominated mostly male atmospheres, making her influence all that more powerful. But more than this, Yoon was the first female to collaborate on a project with both Nike and the NBA. It’s no secret that the basketball scene is one that is ruled by men. With the WNBA having recently fought to receive their full salary during maternity leave, it seems there is still a long way ahead before the average $71K a female player makes, matches the $6.4million of her male counterpart.
Yoon’s collection was one that stepped away from her roots in jewellery and focused on creating streetwear that wasn’t necessarily designed for performance, but highlighted women’s ability on the court. Taking influence from RnB and the ‘00s female hip-hop scene (think Mary J Blige, Missy Elliott and the like), the baggy-fitting pieces that appeared in the collection had the aim of:
“Empowering females with pieces that were made for men, so that we can own it and we can have fun with it, without it feeling like we borrowed it from our brother.”
Both the black and white colourway and the ‘Cosmic Fuchsia’ iteration of AMBUSH’s motorbike-inspired Nike Dunk were the hottest and most-hyped collaborations in a long time. Not since Travis Scott’s collaborations with the Beaverton-based brand had we seen anything like it. Yoon gained a lot of traction being the first female designer to collaborate the NBA on such high-heat releases. But why is this the case? Paving the way for the female sneaker designers to come next, Yoon has opened many a door and inspired so many females that there is a place for them in the sneaker industry. We hope that there are plenty of female-designed releases yet to come that gain the same traction the Dunks did, and all the other male collaborations before them.
Yoon is very aware of her influence as a designer and ensures that everything she puts out there serves a purpose. However, Ahn has been questioned about her relationship with social media. With over a cool half-a-million followers, does she feel the pressure, like so many of us girls do?
In an interview with SSENSE, Yoon expresses the importance of users remembering that social media is just the surface.
“Sometimes, when people don't know you, they judge you by what you post, and how you seem to appear […] I might look a certain way on social media. I'm a girl, at the end of the day, and I like to have long weaves and wear lipstick, but I make sure I work my ass off, and my results are there. ”
And although Yoon Ahn is one of the biggest designers in the world right now, I think this is something that every, single one of us can relate to.
We love sneakers and clothing, but here at The Sole Supplier we are also partial to a small (or large... who are we kidding?!) tipple at the weekend! More recently, Yoon collaborated with world-famous Moët & Chandon to redesign their signature champagne: Moët Impérial. Yoon is not only the first female artist to collaborate on the Champagne company’s signature drink, but she is the first EVER artist. In the whole 152 years of its life, the bottle has never been changed. Until now. Cool, right? She’s making waves in a world that has only ever previously been dominated by men. P Diddy collaborated with Ciroc; Jay-Z, Ace of Spaces; Drake, Virginia Black... where have the girls been? Dressed in monochrome ‘sleek, deep black’ contrasting against ‘pure-white labels’, Yoon fully adorns this heavenly drink with the aesthetics that AMBUSH is known for.
It’s no secret that Yoon Ahn is a force to be reckoned with as one of the biggest names in the fashion, sneaker and jewellery industries right now. Is there anything that Madam AMBUSH can’t do? Making scenes in some of the most male-dominated industries doing things that have only ever been done by male counterparts before, we admire her tenacity to make sure that women belong in these atmospheres and don’t merely sit as onlookers, hoping that ‘one day, that could be me’.
A designer. But not, just a designer. Ahn has acknowledged the fact that there is so much more to it these days...
“You have to be the best marketing person, the best PR person, you have to do everything...”
And it’s important to acknowledge that as a woman, you have to give 100% in places where men only give 25%… Yoon gives it 300% AND she models her own pieces. What. A. Woman. We could all learn a thing or two.
