Are you excited for the U.S. UNIQLO E-Commerce site launch as we are? If you haven’t already made your picks – check out our recommendations and tips (including our Editor in Chief Anna Park’s most favorite item – it might surprise you!). Happy shopping! 

Inside Uniqlo. Image courtesy of Getty.

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Sarah Nami Ahn is an LA based fashion designer and founder of her own womenswear brand called NAMI after her middle name, her Korean name. Ahn’s brand, NAMI, rapidly gained traction after just one season, her debut collection SS12 that was shown at NYFW, LAFW in September and October 2011, respectively. Ahn only launched her line June of 2011 and within a short year, her line is now sold online and in boutiques around the country. Her design aesthetics is highly influenced by her worldly travels as an Army Brat, her heritage, her unusual educational background, and finally by architecture.

On October 13th, NAMI presented its Spring/Summer 2013 collection in Los Angeles, and we were lucky enough to be at the show.  Check out our collection review as well as our interview with the designer, Sarah Ahn, after the cut!

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David Choi & Clara C

Clara C and David Choi kicked off their long awaited fall tour, presented by YesStyle, at the nearly full house Troubadour in West Hollywood on Sept. 29 during Carmageddon 2 weekend. Long lines of excited fans waited eagerly to enter the venue as Jacob Luttrell, along with backup singers and a full band complete with a cellist, opened the night. DANakaDAN gave away a YesStyle gift certificate and revved up the appreciative crowd of nearly 500 before introducing the headlining duo to thundering applause.
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On an unseasonably warm and gorgeous October 5th evening, many of New York City’s Asian American young professionals came out to support the annual Plate by Plate tasting benefit held at the historic New York Public Library. Plate by Plate NYC is the premier annual food and wine charity fundraising event thrown by the New York City chapter of the national volunteer organization, Project by Project.

In it’s 15th Year, this event still managed to surprise and delight the 500 guests that came out to support the benefit . Decked out in their cocktail best and ready to eat, drink and be charitable, these urban professionals tasted treats from 30 of the city’s finest restaurants and beverage purveyors.

The participating restaurants offered up innovative fare that included lobster katifi pumpkin bisque, smoked lamb ribs, foie gras a la shabu shabu, artisanal ice creams (honey vanilla, fresh mint or Nutella) served with homemade shortbreads, and so much more.

Second year participant, Chef Toshi Nukui of Pranna served a red chicken curry with vegetable samosa sticks because he felt it best represented Southeast Asian cuisine. Mark Lee, general manager of Spot Dessert Bar, returning for a third year, said they chose to serve kabocha brulee cake because they wanted to share some Asian flavors that were not common in desserts.

Chris Jaeckle, a Michelin star chef formerly with Ai Fiori, debuted his new restaurant, All’onda, at the event. Attendees got to sample his restaurant before it officially opens in November in Union Square.

The thoughtful menus of all the participating restaurants impressed the well-dressed crowds, as many lined up again and again for the creative delicacies. Sake and wine flowed freely as the hallways overflowed with these foodies, mingling and dining for a good cause.

A special chef’s tasting demo emceed by longtime supporter, MSNBC anchor Richard Lui was held in the main hall. Lui has hosted the Quickfire Challenge (a cooking competition) for the past two years. First up was Chef Justin Antiorio, this past season’s Hell’s Kitchen runner-up, who cooked up a charred octopus dish with white bean puree in under ten minutes. He took the dish out to the audience and even the finickiest eater was pleased. Celebrity taster, Tom Keene, Bloomberg Radio Host, declared it delicious.

Founding Plate by Plate Chef Kerry Heffernan of Top Chef Masters who has supported the benefit from the very beginning, put together a pasta dish featuring clams, bacon and kale, with the help of CNBC Reporter, Seema Mody and all under 8 minutes He stressed how easy it was to find the ingredients locally and that anyone could make this dish at home. It was another crowd pleaser.

In addition to the tastings, there was a silent auction featuring over 70 items donated by merchants, organizations and individuals. There were a great variety of items (posh vacation packages, stunning jewelry, tech gadgets, etc) with something for just about everyone’s liking. Some of the hot “priceless” treasures included an autographed Michael Jackson Thriller record, a Justin Bieber autographed poster, Asian American activist Corky Lee’s framed poster, and a signed Jeremy Lin Knicks jersey. Figures will not be out for a few weeks but are expected to bring in over $10,000, according to Project by Project’s NY Marketing Director Anne Lee.

Each year, Project by Project partners with a community-based organization and tailors a year-long campaign to help its fundraising, community outreach, and public awareness efforts. In commemoration of Project by Project’s 15th anniversary, net proceeds from this year’s benefit will go toward further developing and strengthening the organization’s overall infrastructure, so, that they can continue providing support for future partners and the community. Project by Project NY has partnered and helped 14 organizations to date. The organization and event is 100% volunteer based and 165 volunteers helped to make the evening a success.

While you’re in Seoul, make sure to check out Hongdae, the neighborhood around (and short for) the art-oriented Hongik University. With no shortage of cafés, clubs and spontaneous street music, Hongdae has become a magnet for expats, exchange students and locals alike. Here, Vietnamese American exchange student Mai Nguyen fills us in on some of her must-go’s in Hongdae.

ISSUE: Summer 2012
DEPT: Destinasian
STORY: Mai Nguyen

1) Street performances abound in Hongdae. 2) Pop star Se7en’s restaurant Yeolbong. 3) Your latte, complete with cinnamon sprinkle art, at the Hello Kitty Cafe.

World badminton champion Howard Bach goes for the kill in his last Olympics this summer in London.

ISSUE: Summer 2012

DEPT: Personalities

STORY: Melody Lee

PHOTO: Melly Lee

Growing up, Howard Bach had always been quite the athlete — he ran track, played baseball and soccer — but he eventually decided to stick with badminton. Today, he is a world champion in the sport and is training for his third, and last, Olympics in the badminton men’s doubles event.

At the age of 5, Bach picked up the sport from his father, who used to play back in Vietnam. He moved to an Olympic training center at the age of 16 and has since racked up a long list of accomplishments in the sport. With his partner, Indonesian American Tony Gunawan, Bach made history in 2005 when the pair won the gold medal in the men’s doubles competition at the World Badminton Championships, becoming the first American badminton athletes to ever medal at a World Championship. In 2008, Bach and his doubles partner, Bob Malaythong, made it to the quarterfinalsof the Olympic Games in Beijing, advancing farther in the Olympic sport than any other Americans in history.

Now facing his last Olympics — at 33, he’s married and has a baby boy — Bach is training hard. His regular routine consists of everything from weightlifting to track to on-court training two times a day, five days a week. Bach is hoping to end his badminton career as a full-time athlete with a medal, but regardless, he plans to stay involved in the sport and maybe even raise its profile in the U.S. “America has one of the best athletic pools around the world, yet you see mainly Asians in the U.S. playing badminton,” he says. “That mentality should change. We have a lot of athletes of different ethnic backgrounds who are equally as athletic who would definitely enjoy the game as well.”

Bach credits his family, friends and sponsors for his success. “Being an athlete, it’s not enough to just have the talent; you need to have the environment to make an athlete successful,” he says. “I always mention it as the team behind the team, the support group, and I’ve been pretty blessed to have that support group behind me.”

— Melody Lee

Though the Hotel Cafe alumnus has a new label and team of producers, Meiko isn’t afraid to walk alone. 

ISSUE: Summer 2012

DEPT: Personalities

STORY: Christina Lee

PHOTO: Leigha Hoonet

In April, Meiko trekked to Kahuku, Hawaii, for a gig and a few days of relaxation — alone. She’d asked two friends to join her, though neither of them was available. “I thought it was going to be horrible to be by myself, but now I’m getting more excited,” she says days prior, by phone. “I can go by myself, chill out and do all the things I want to do, without making sure that’s OK with everybody else.”

In 2007, Meiko transitioned from Hotel Cafe waitress to one of the name sake tour’s biggest success stories: Grey’s Anatomy played her songs and Perez Hilton praised her, which helped catapult her independently-released, self-titled and mostly acoustic debut album to No. 1 on iTunes’ Singer/Songwriter chart. Her latest, The Bright Side, released last May, comes courtesy of Concord Music Group offshoot Fantasy and a new team of producers. Along with longtime collaborators(Jimmy Messner, Greg Collins, Tony Reyes), Meiko enlisted Belgium producer Styrofoam — based on his remixes of Postal Service and Submarines songs. “I’ve always wanted to do that, mesh the acoustic, organic vibe with a little bit of electronica here and there,” she says.

Inspired by her current boyfriend, whom she met at the South by Southwest festival three years ago, The Bright Side also has Meiko breathlessly vowing to bake pies, declaring that she’d make a good wife, swooning. But when she rattles off this year’s traveling plans — snorkeling and eating shaved ice in Hawaii, flying to Japan to meet maternal relatives for the first time — it’s still easy to imagine her retreating to her childhood bedroom in Roberta, Ga., writing kiss-offs to boys and terrible friends. “I’ve tried to distance myself from negative people I was hanging out with,” she says, “and that’s actually why I spend a lot of time by myself, writing and doing a lot of soul-searching.”

— Christina Lee

Kyung-sook Shin, the first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize,
shares her thoughts on mothers, daughters and the loneliness of modern life.

ISSUE: Summer 2012

DEPT: Plugged In

STORY: Carol Park

PHOTO: Lee Byungryul

When Kyung-sook Shin wrote Please Look After Mom, she never dreamt it would be translated into multiple languages that span 32 countries. Its tale of a daughter, son and husband looking for their beloved mother and wife has connected with millions, while also collecting critical acclaim and awards. In March, it won the Man Asian Literary Prize, bestowed on the best novel, either written or translated into English, by an Asian writer. Shin is the first woman and the first Korean to win the accolade. Born in 1963, Shin published her first work of fiction, Winter’s Fable, in 1985. Today, Shin is a prolific writer and is recognized as one of South Korea’s most widely read and honored novelists.

Audrey Magazine: Is your mother an important figure in your life?
Kyung-sook Shin: When I was 16, way before becoming a writer, I took a train in the countryside with my mom to go to school. There was a night train, and I saw my mom in front of me and I thought about her. And I said to myself, “One day I’m going to write a novel about moms and dedicate it to her.” I worked on the actual novel in 2007 and 2008, but the reality is that it was being written in my mind since I was 16.

AM: What is the story about?
KSS: The story is about the reality of our world today, and how we’ve left our mothers to live lonely lives. As the reader reads the story of the son, daughter and father searching for the mother, the reader is able to connect to something that is in them. Also, as they read the novel, it makes them think about their mothers, whom they may have forgotten.

AM: How has the response been to the book?
KSS: I was surprised to see that the international reaction was the same as that of Korean readers. What pleased me the most was when I heard from readers who didn’t have good relationships with their mothers, telling me they re-examined those relationships and about who their mothers are.

AM: There was some controversy about NPR’s broadcast of Maureen Corrigan’s review of your book, where she said readers would be “reaching for the cheap consolations of kimchi scented Kleenex fiction.” What do you think about the comment?
KSS: I think it’s just a cultural difference. Those tears are not only just from sadness but also from the cleansing and purification of your self and soul.

AM: Did you feel there was anything lost in the translation of the novel from Korean to English?
KSS:I was very satisfied with the translation. Throughout the process, the translator [Chi-Young Kim] and everyone worked closely together.What was lost was the mother’s regional way of speaking that, of course, could not be translated. Even for Koreans, the mother’s way of speaking is not a language people from Seoul speak, so it was not possible to be translated.

AM: In the story, the mother asks the daughter for a rosary. Was there a specific reason?
KSS: The rosary symbolizes the mom’s prayer and peace; she was wishing for peace and consolation for other people. All of us forget the fact that our moms are also human beings, and they also need moms, too. They were not always mothers.

AM: What’s the universal thread or message of the novel?
KSS:If you look at the very beginning of the novel, there is a quote [from Franz Liszt]: “O love, so long as you can love.” This is the theme of the novel. I hope readers remember that quote.

Cat Seto is known for her whimsical aesthetic, which started out as a charming paper goods line and has now expanded into a boutique and studio. So when fellow mom and entrepreneur Meg Mateo Ilasco approached her about co-authoring a book, she jumped on board. The result, Mom, Inc.:The Essential Guide to Runninga Business From Home, draws on the pair’s own experiences, as well as interviews with successful mothers like DwellStudio’s Christine Lemieux, to reveal the ins and
outs of running a business while still staying focused on home and family.

ISSUE: Summer 2012

DEPT: Plugged In

STORY: Daisy Miclat

PHOTO: Ruby Press

Audrey Magazine: How did you and Meg come up with the idea for the book?
Cat Seto: Meg’s known for this very popular series of crafting books, and she knew I started a whole bunch of businesses. I had stationary cards, wedding invitations, my own shop and a website dedicated to entrepreneurial women. She looked at my website, MomIncDaily.com, where a community of women get together to talk about biz how-to’s on topics from production to design. She knew that I would have some great tips and be helpful in creating a book about business for mothers.

AM: What were some memorable experiences while writing this book?
CS: There were definitely “mommy” moments during conference calls. My son would be yelling while Meg’s kids were falling and creating banging noises. Our calls would be really funny, but were really productive.

AM: What was your inspiration for Mom, Inc.?
CS: This book was inspired by both of our mothers. They were both workaholics who loved their families and took joy in doing what they love to do. My mother passed away while I was a pregnant with my son Nolan. It was a very difficult time for me. But it was very helpful to be supported by this community of women who went through similar experiences and were able to get through it. This book helped me to preserve the memory of my mother for both my- self and my son.

— Daisy Miclat

Mini Review: Legend 

ISSUE: Summer 2012

DEPT: Plugged In

STORY: Kanara Ty

 

Dystopian young adult novels are all the rage thanks to the popularity of The Hunger Games, but Marie Lu serves up a novel that brings something new to the table: an Asian American literary male character who packs a lot of swag, has major ass-kicking skills with a heart of gold, and charms the socks off the leading female character (myself included!). How’s that for your lead character in a debut novel? With two warring states (the Republic and the Colonies) set as its backdrop, Legend follows two teenage star-crossed lovers, Day (the AA hero) and June, who each come from very different backgrounds — one is a wanted criminal with not-so-malicious intentions, while the other is a rising elite military officer. They cross paths in a cat-and-mouse chase, as Day is framed for the death of June’s older brother, Metias. Eventually, the two join forces to uncover the mysteries of his death and the secrets of the Republic, the governing body of the West Coast.

— Kanara Ty

THROUGH THE EYES OF BABES: During the four years of the genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge,
a small child is witness to daily horrors — as well as everyday humanity — in Vaddey Ratner’s
autobiographically-inspired novel, In the Shadow of the Banyan.

ISSUE: Summer 2012

DEPT: Plugged In

Story: Susan Soon He Stanton

How does one write about atrocities? Can there be good amongst all the evil? Vaddey Ratner’s debut novel, In the Shadow of the Banyan, answers these questions. The book reflects upon the Cambodian genocide of the 1970s, a nightmarish time during which 2 million Cambodians perished (almost a third of the population.) Ratner’s story is drawnfrom her own personal history; Ratner was 5 years old and a member of a royal family marked for execution during the Khmer Rouge regime. Disguised as a peasant, she survived years of forced labor, starvation and near execution, finally escaping and living long enough to tell a story not of despair but of hope.

The story is told from the point of view of Raami, a 7-year-old child crippled by polio. Thanks to this disability, she was often ignored and forgotten by those around her, allowing her to become a keen observer of her rapidly shifting world. The novel begins in the idyllic days before the fall of Phnom Penh, at Raami’s luxurious family home. Despite the epic turn of events, In the Shadow of the Banyanserves as a delicate character study, and the reader observes each family member through Raami’s watchful eyes. The characters who emerge most vividly from the narrative are Mama, who begins the story looking like “a butterfly preening herself” and smelling of jasmine, and Papa, known as the Tiger Prince and an emotional pillar of strength in the novel. Throughout the difficult times, Papa is able to retain his humanity, embodying the qualities of both a philosopher and a leader. Distinct but minor players are Big Uncle, who is larger than life, and Grandmother Queen, who suffers from dementia, living more in the past than in the present. Raami and her large extended family are forcibly relocated several times, and eventually separated.

Curiously, for all of the atrocities witnessed and hardships experienced, Ratner’s story is filled to an even larger extent with optimism and beauty. Ratner’s gift is her exquisite descriptions of the careful details of daily life, such as planting rice or observing a turtle swimming in a stream. Most of the accounts in the book concern these mundane details rather than focus on the lurid atrocities. The decline of Cambodia is painted in a hundred subtle ways: in the beginning, Papa remarks that their basil-seed dessert was not properly sweetened; near the end of the novel, Mama shares a water bug with Raami, who devours it ravenously. Through the novel’s slow pace, Ratner’s vision of the genocide becomes more real and disturbing. The Khmer Rouge’s four years of hell were not just an epic series of events but an accumulation of long and difficult days. Since the novel is told through the eyes of a child, certain larger political aspects of the time are not discussed in depth. However, Ratner subtly takes the reader through the reasons for the regime and the many ways the people were killed, including execution, starvation and malaria.Yet simultaneously, Ratner constantly finds opportunities to inject moments of surprising kindness or beauty throughout the story, reminding readers of the goodness of human nature.

In her author’s note, Ratner describes her desire to memorialize the loved ones she lost with an enduring work of art. Shehas done just that; hers is a beautiful tale with considerable poetry and restraint. In the Shadow of the Banyanis an important novel, written by a survivor with unexpected grace and eloquence.