Culture

UNESCO has added to its World Heritage list a dozen North Korean sites located in an ancient capital that has become more famous in modern times as the location of the now dormant joint North-South industrial park.

The sites in Kaesong are remains of its glory days as the capital of the Goryeo Dynasty which ruled most of the Korean peninsula from 918 until 1392 when the Joseon Dynasty overthrew Goryeo and moved the capital to Seoul.

The newly listed World Heritage sites in Kaesong include some of what remains of a fortress that once surrounded Kaesong, the ruins of the Manwoldae palace, the city’s top academy, and the mausoleum of King Kongmin, the dynasty’s penultimate ruler who managed to free it from Mongol domination.

“These valuable cultural relics are the pride of our nation, and they are precious cultural relics that show the long history of our nation,” said Kim Jin Sok, a researcher at Kaesong City Management Office for Preserving National Heritage in an interview with AP. “Also, these relics, some preserved for very long periods, are well known as relics with which we can stand proud in the eyes of the world.”

UNESCO approved N. Korea’s bid to add the sites to the World Heritage list during a recent meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The addition of a dozen sites inside N. Korea represents a major cultural coup for N. Korea. The World Heritage list includes only about 1,000 sites from the over 210 nations that make up the international community. The recent addition gives the North 14 sites on the list, ahead of the South which currently has only 10 listed World Heritage sites.

By comparison Japan has 17 sites on the list, China has 45, the US, 21, and India, 30.

In 2004 UNESCO had granted World Heritage status to a N. Korean complex of about 30 tombs from the later Goguryeo Kingdom which encompassed the northern half of the Korean peninsula and much of northeastern China between the 3rd century BC and 7th century AD. The tombs are notable because only about 90 out of more than 10,000 Koguryo tombs discovered in China and Korea have wall paintings.

Korean cuisine has gained enough traction in New York City to pop up in surprising ways on the menus of trendy, upscale restaurants, according to Chosun Ilbo.

Dishes like bulgogi (marinaded grilled beef), galbi (marinaded grilled short ribs), bibimbap (rice with assorted vegetables) and yookhwae (beef tartare) have broken out of the confines of Koreatown to invade trendsetting eateries in hipper districts of Manhattan.

SoHo’s Mercer Kitchen has casually begun offering kimchi and mustard sauce on its Schaller & Weber hotdogs while Michael’s in Midtown West has introduced bulgogi tacos to its forward-eating clientele.

The Michelin-starred Annisa in West Village is even more daring, serving yookhwae soaked in pear juice and grilled mackerel with gochujang, a red pepper paste rarely seen outside Korean kitchen tables. The condiment has even been picked by Bon Appetit as a food trend set to take off this year.

By now kimchi has become so old hat among trendy New Yorkers that the Palace Hotel’s Gilt is using it to garnish a variety of dishes. No longer does the famous Korean pickles require even a subtitle or a parenthetical explanation on most menus.

Korean food has made the 2012 dining trends report published by New York City restaurant consultants Baum+Whiteman. It mentions kimchi, bulgogi, galbi and bibimbap as new words that have made the American lexicon.

Perhaps the most reliable gauge of the surging popularity of Korean food are its use in online searches. Searches for “kimchi” soared 96.1% this year in the US over three years ago. “Korean BBQ” jumped 75.4% and “bibimbap” skyrocketed 194.1%.

Other Korean foods hovering on the horizon for the Big Apple’s trendsetters are soondubu (soft tofu casserole), nangmyeon (spicy cold buckwheat noodles) and jhabchae (glass noodles with vegetables) — three dishes that have already appeared on the radar in Los Angeles, the nation’s leader in Korean-food adoption.

One of the factors contributing to the assimilation of Korean flavors into trendy tastebuds is the proliferation of Asian restaurateurs who have a greater comfort level with Korean food. For example, Annisa was co-founded and now solely owned by its Chinese American chef Anita Lo.

The dressing tastes of China’s women are dictated to a surprising extent by where they live, according to a Taobao.com survey conducted on May 14 of women in 33 major cities that also analyzed data from 36.5 million clothing shoppers from 362 cities.

Beijing women favor long dresses with V-necks while those in Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region like ethnic-style long skirts with floral prints.

“Women in Shanghai have personalities typical of the southern part of the country — delicate and moderate,” said the survey. “So they prefer chiffon skirts, flowing in the air, making them lovely. And they pay a lot of attention to accessories.”

Chongqing women like colorful skirts that are tight-fitting and — much like the spicy food for which the city is famous. Taipei women have a fondness for one-shoulder bouffant skirts that give them tempestuous look. The women of Lanzhou in Northwest China’s Gansu province like simple but elegant hand-embroidered dresses.

About 800 people from Beijing bought the same style long dress online last summer and 815 women in Shanghai got a particular floral button dress last year, according to Zhang Yue, the manager of a Hangzhou-based online shop on Taobao.

Zhang noted that style preferences are more distinctive among coastal cities and inland regions.

”It’s probably their personalities,” he said. “Judging by the sales at our shops, girls in eastern cities may be more willing to wear clothes to highlight their figure.”

“Girls in Hangzhou (capital of prosperous coastal Zhejiang province) go out in miniskirts and tank tops, and they enjoy people appreciating their beauty,” said Zhang. “In some western areas of China, clothes that expose large parts of the body and elaborate styles are not well received.”

But the survey results aren’t backed up by some women.

“I’ve seen lots of women wearing chiffon dresses since May, but it’s not everywhere,” said Zhang Hui, a 25-year-old Shanghai resident who loves to shop for clothes online. “Sometimes, friends feel embarrassed to wear similar clothes. As for me, I like loose T-shirts and tights, casual and comfortable.”

“[Long dresses] don’t fit with my personality,” said Beijing civil servant Zhang Runzhi. “I think styles of dressing go with individuals. How could a city of millions of people have one favorite style of clothing? That’s not possible.”

“Well-designed clothes that have good quality do well,” said an online fashion consultant Dong Junyuan who does not see obvious fashion trends in different cities, though he acknowledges that his business is concentrated in Shanghai, Guangzhou and other big cities. “Fashion trends like long dresses and harem pants are popular in the whole country.”

During the past six months since November women from Shanghai and Beijing outspent those of other cities, spending an average of over 800 yuan ($126) to buy more than seven items online.

“Women from these areas always face severe competition at work, so many of them like shopping and change their clothes frequently as a way to relieve pressure,” said the survey.

Singer and leading K-pop producer Park Jin-young has entered the restaurant business in the US with a Korean grill called Kristalbelli on Manhattan’s 36th Street.

“I think the image of Korean food is as important as its popularity,” Park said. “To give foreigners the impression that Korean food is fine cuisine, we need to target trend-setters.”

Kristabelli is located in the heart of a growing Koreatown area in Manhattan’s mid-town area not far from the Empire State Building. Its 6,000 square feet are decorated to look and feel more like an elegant bar or lounge than a typical Korean restaurant.

The restaurant features a crystal grill that works like a convex mirror that cooks meat quickly and efficiently by focusing infra-red energy. The grill was designed by Park himself. Initially associates at his namesake JYP Entertainment resisted the idea, citing Park’s lack of experience in the restaurant business.

“So I made drawings for the grill myself,” said Park. “I invested W30 million ($28,400) of my own money, and had them broil meat on the grill and eat it. Then they agreed to the plan.”

The grill is equipped with a fan unit that sucks the smoke down and away from customers, protecting them from the smell that typically infuses clothing at Korean barbecue restaurants. Park has mastered the art of grilling meat and has written a manual with which to train staff.

“I’ve met a lot of people in show business overseas, and they often asked me to recommend a Korean restaurant, saying that they heard Korean food is good,” said Park to explain why he’s entering the restaurant business. “But I couldn’t think of any I would confidently recommend.”

Park plans ultimately to expand Kristalbelli by opening branches in cities with a large Korean cultural presence, including Los Angeles, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul.

Park, 40, was a popular singer and performer in Korea before venturing to the US with the goal of becoming a songwriter and producer for American pop stars. With the experience he returned to Korea to found JYP entertainment. He discovered Rain in 2000 and turned him into one of Asia’s biggest stars. Park is the creative force behind the K-pop girl group the Wonder Girls who made its US debut in 2009. The group has recently completed a new album that will be released exclusively in the US market.

For the past decade a Korean American named Sang Yoon has been setting the pace for L.A.‘s dining scene with his Father’s Office gastropubs on Montana Avenue and in the old Helms Bakery building in Culver City.

In 2000 Yoon quit his post as executive chef at Santa Monica’s venerable Michael’s restaurant — the epitome of westside fine dining — to buy a small neighborhood bar called Father’s Office. By bringing in 36 brands of craft beers and creating a menu topped by his super-indulgent $12 Office Burger, Yoon put himself squarely at the forefront of the gastropub trend. Professionals fleeing the stuffy service, tired menus and over-priced red wines found refuge in the bold dishes, reasonable prices and microbrew culture of Yoon’s Father’s Office.

“People thought I was crazy — it didn’t make any sense, and that’s why I decided to do it,” Yoon recalled. “I was tired of the fine restaurant scene. I wanted a cool, comfortable place to hang out and have a beer and good food.”

Father’s Office quickly became enough of a local sensation to draw the likes of Steven Spielberg and Brooke Shields. The big star was his Office Burder which topped off a big patty of dry-aged strip steak with gruyere cheese, carmelized onions, arugular and a blue cheese dressing on French bread. It became known as the country’s best burder when it beat other chefs in a Today show cook-off. It was also emulated in restaurants and pubs across the country.

“I want to do everything better, faster, cleaner, cheaper than any traditional kitchen,” Yoon told a USA Today reporter in 2008. “For me it’s a game of what’s the least I can charge?“

The success of Father’s Office encouraged Yoon to position himself as a brand as well as a fresh gastronomical wind. After Father’s Office 2.0 in Culver City became another acknowledged hit, there was talk of books, investors and even namesake fine-wine labels. In February of 2011 Yoon opened an Asian fusion restaurant called Lukshon just one door down from Father’s Office in the Helms Bakery district. With a pricier menu and a selection of white (but no red) wines, Lukshon is positioned to move Yoon back into the fine dining milieu where he learned his trade — minus the white tablecloths.

Sang Yoon was born in Korea in 1971. His father was one of the founders of The Korea Times. His mother was a fashion model who later became a disc jockey. Yoon worked in Paris with famed master French chef Joel Robuchon and in Santa Monica with Michael McCarty, founder of Michael’s restaurant before becoming a restaurateur with his first Father’s Office. For exercise Yoon likes plays an aggressive and very physical game of ice hockey at a rink in Culver City.

Koreatown doesn’t lack cafés, coffee houses and bakeries. What it has lacked until Iota opened in mid July is a big, open, airy space that offers a big assortment of reasonably priced buns and dessert pastries with a full complement of coffee drinks while inviting you to linger long after your purchases have been consumed.

What makes Iota an appealing lounging space is its scale. It occupies about 3,200 square feet of totally open space, with full-height plate-glass windows lining maybe fifty feet of frontage along Western between 5th and 6th Streets. The ceiling soars to the height seen in airport lounges and small hotel lobbies, creating a sense of grandeur lacking in most cafés. The big western exposure floods the place with direct afternoon sunlight, making you feel as though you’re sitting outdoors, except in cool comfort. The air-conditioning bill must be horrendous.

Along with the sheer sense of space the first thing that strikes a visitor is the stylish minimalism of the coffee bar, bakery showcases and furnishings. A big flat-screen TV perched high on the north wall plays K-pop music videos full time, though mercifully muted. The sense of having entered a high-style zone is reinforced by the attractive young Korean counter people sporting tight black tee shirts bearing the Iota logo. Along the window on the south end of the café are two big communal tables presided over by modern paintings hung in four rows to cover the tall wall. The rest of the table area is given to a dozen four-person tables plus a row of small two-seat tables along the window.

Adding to the overall sense of spaciousness while subliminally authenticating the establishment, is a plate glass wall displaying bakers at work. It was late Saturday afternoon. Only two were at work in the bakery putting finishing touches on a few batches of fancy French-style desserts. No trays of buns, danishes, tarts, bars and other baked items were in sight though their selection in the display cases had dwindled alarmingly. Despite the impressive baking facilities on display, Iota isn’t a high-volume baking operation like 85C in Irvine’s Diamond Jamboree that keeps putting out piping-hot trays of baked goods all hours of day and night. Perhaps that will come later as the clientele grows.

Still, Iota does offer a selection of maybe three dozen varieties of baked items at prices starting at $1.25 each — on the high side but not unreasonable. Their selection of frosted desserts start at $3.50. The big impressive coffee bar serves up the usual assortment of gourmet coffee drinks, as well as teas, bobas and juices at prices 10-15% higher than what one might pay at Starbucks or Coffee Bean. Iota also offers bingsu, Korean shaved ice topped with red bean, sweet cream, fruit and other goodies.

The crowd in evidence that afternoon was mostly Korean, ranging in age from students in their early twenties to occasional middle-aged couples, with an assortment of adventuresome non-Koreans.

Adding to Iota’s appeal as an all-around hangout are its two outdoor areas. Out front along Western is a small patio in a more colorful version of the interior’s ultra-modern theme. Out through the back entrance, past the rest rooms, is a large covered patio offering a more traditional ambience, perhaps a holdover from a restaurant that may have occupied the space before Iota.

If it manages to hang on long enough Iota has the makings of another success story for Eton Tsuno and Tommy Kim, the duo who created the highly successful Haus Dessert Boutique, a sort of coffee shop-bakery-cum-fusion-eatery located a half dozen blocks east-by southeast on 6th and Serrano. Next door to Iota is I Love Boba. Just a block south on Western is Madang, an upscale newly-opened three-level entertainment mall that has attracted the elegant Korean restaurant Bann (formerly Woolaeoak) as well as another branch of the popular Cake House bakery and coffee shop. The short stretch of Western between Wilshire and 5th Street seems set to challenge 6th Street as Koreatown’s lively new coffee strip.

We discovered Atlantic Times Square six months ago while it was still under construction. It’s a brand new multi-use development with storefronts on the ground floor and condos above, built in a vaguely modern Italian style with art-deco facades in contrasting pastels, with stone trim on some storefronts. The winding cobbled promenade is lined with palm trees, fountains and benches. You’ve probably seen similar developments popping up in gentrifying sections of your own city, though ATF is probably bigger than most, with a multiplex, a 24-Hour Fitness and about two dozen stores, mostly restaurants and snack shops.

It’s conveniently located on Atlantic Boulevard in Monterey Park, just two blocks south of the I-10 freeway. There’s a big underground parking lot, but it’s usually full on the weekends. We usually end up parking on the street or in the big Vons supermarket lot nearby.

What really distinguishes ATF are its restaurants. So far we’ve tried Cafe Xpress, Green Island and Tasty Garden — and we’re hooked on their hyper-competitive quality, ambience and pricing.

Our first ATF experience was at the Cafe Xpress. The ambience was modern, clean, bright and comfortable. The wait was under five minutes. The menu had a wide assortment of Chinese, Korean, Japanese and western dishes. Every dish we ordered was a winner — the fish fillets, the Mongolian beef, the kung pao chicken, the eggplant. The seasoning was flavorful and subtle rather than heavy. Each dish was uniquely seasoned — unlike the sloppy all-purpose seasoning one sometimes finds in Chinese restaurants in some non-Asian areas. And each dish was priced between $7 and $10, at least 30% less than what we would have paid for comparable fare at our suburban neighborhood restaurants. As if that weren’t enough, we got a free drink with each meal — anything from milk tea with boba to iced coffee to lemon tea. We ordered five dishes for four of us so they insisted on giving us five drinks. And the food all came out in about the time it would have taken at a place like Denny’s or House of Pancakes.

Our second ATF experience was at Green Island. The ambience was just as modern and airy, though the TV speakers in the seatbacks can be a bit annoying. The entrees were priced between $6 and $9 though without free drinks. The sauteed eggplant was better than any I’ve tasted, including at much pricier restaurants. The broccoli beef was seasoned to gourmet standards. The fish fillets were fresh and tender, not overcooked as in many restaurants. The service was even faster than at Cafe Xpress, though neither place offers what you might call personal service due to the high customer-waiter ratio.

Our positive ATF experience was reconfirmed when we returned to try Tasty Garden. Unlike Green Island and Cafe Xpress — both of which appear to be Taiwanese in origin and style — Tasty Garden is Hong Kong style. That means higher prices, more western menu items, subtler flavors and, with the desserts at least, more stylish presentation. As with the other two, the ambience was boldly modern and open. The prices were substantially higher, ranging between $10 and $19, though most were under $13. The service was even less personal, on the verge of being as brusque as we find at so many dim sum palaces.

But the food was delicious, albeit much oilier than found at Taiwanese-style restaurants. The fish fillets in black bean sauce was probably the tastiest I’ve had. The calamari was perfectly seasoned, with a thin coating of remarkably crisp batter. The beef in Chinese broccoli was tender and tasty though a bit on the bland side. The vegetable chow fun got raves from those who tried it. Best of all were the desserts. The mango crepes were a bit meager at $5.95 but stylishly presented and tasty. The honey toast concoction consisting of an immense square block of toast hollowed out and filled with ice cream, honey, strawberries and toast sticks was good, but pricey at $10.95.

The restaurants at ATF have convinced us that modern Asian restaurants are the wave of the future. It’s hard to imagine how mainstream restaurants will be able to compete against their level of quality and ambience at such low prices.

If you want to get a picture of the acculturated cross-section of the Asian American population, check out Irvine’s Diamond Jamboree Center (DJC). It’s only been two and a half years since it opened but it has become the mall of choice among south Orange County’s more acculturated Asian Americans.

The location on the southwestern corner of Alton and Jamboree is an unlikely one to host such a rocking agglomeration of restaurants, bakeries, cafés, karaoke bars and a big H-Mart supermarket. Until you get within a half block of the place (and even closer if you’re driving up Jamboree from the 405 Freeway), you won’t suspect so much Asian activity can exist in this bland, semi-industrial section of Irvine.

But once you see DJC, you wonder how it could have escaped anyone’s notice for so long. Not only is it nearly as immense as the San Gabriel Square (though not nearly as monstrous as Silicon Valley’s Milpitas Square) at 114,000 square-foot, it’s pimped out in that combination of sunset pastels and edgy lettering that signals a refuge for those who refuse to be associated with Asian culture unless it’s the hip, nouvelle variety.

What keeps the place jumping until every midnight is a mix of eateries that can only be fully appreciated by the boba-drinking, karaoke-singing, bakery-loving variety of Asian American slackers who love nothing better than to while away an entire weekend eating, drinking and singing their guts out. Yes, I mean Guppy Teahouse, 85C Bakery, Lollicup, Ajisen Ramen, Yogurtland, BCD Tofu and Plush Karaoke.

There are other places that appeal to people seeking real food — like Capital Seafood and Barbecue (2 separate places), Chae Bahn Korean restaurant, Tokyo Table, Papaya Thai Bistro and Kula Sushi House, to name some of the 20 eateries — but the overwhelming favorites are 85C Bakery, Guppy Teahouse and Ajisen Ramen. The perpetual line snaking outside 85C bakery is daunting for those who only have 24 hour days. They are likely to seek refuge at the Crepe de Paris or Bon Epi Patisserie.

The overwhelming majority of DJC’s patrons are twenty-something Asian Americans, though one can spot a minority of older folks and a few non-Asians who don’t mind paying a 10-15% premium to be surrounded by tastefully muted pastels. You can eat better and more cheaply in Monterey Park or San Gabriel or Little Saigon or Koreatown, but you would have to put up with old-country ambience. The exceptions may be the very authentic and charming Chae Bahn and the awesome 85C Bakery. The 85C offers a huge assortment of the Asian and western pastries typically found in Chinese bakeries only bigger, fresher and cheaper. Those who have waited in line for 45 minutes go wild piling up trays with puffy, flaky, creamy and, no doubt, yummy treats. It’s amusing to see so many otherwise dignified types rushing around wild-eyed with tongs for fear their waits will have been in vain.

The DJM promises that a Chef Hung’s Noodles and a CoCo Ichibanya Curry House will soon be added to its offerings.

Check out other Great Asian American Malls and Supermarkets.

Danji chef Hooni Kim is serving up Korean-inspired sliders to New Yorkers during the entire first week of a Mobile Kitchen launched by the Korean Food Foundation.

To boost awareness of and interest in Korean cuisine, the Korean Food Foundation launched a mobile kitchen to offer complimentary Korean fare at various locations around NYC. It opened in Bryant Park (on 40th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues) on Monday, April 18th and will continue weekdays through Friday, through May 20th from 11:30AM to 2PM.

The Foundation has partnered with the Korean Restaurant Association in Manhattan to develop the Mobile Kitchen’s rotating menu. By featuring a different Korean dish each day of the week, passersby will have an opportunity to sample a range of Korean flavors and become acquainted with various Korean restaurants in the New York area.

Danji chef Hooni Kim is serving Bulgogi filet mignon sliders during the first week of the Korean food awareness campaign.

“I want to show New Yorkers that the Korean flavor palate is vibrant, welcoming and enjoyable,” said Chef Hooni Kim, “and I hope to encourage trial by those who may not be familiar with Korean cuisine.”

Kim opened his 36-seat Danji restaurant in mid-December in the the Hells Kitchen area (on 52nd between 8th & 9th Aves.) to serve up small plates of traditional and contemporary versions of Korean dishes. His menu includes items like japchae, barbecue pork belly sliders and fried rock shrimp tempura. He got his experience at local institutions Masa and Daniel. He has described his food as Korean flavors with French technique.

“Most of the great chefs are classically French-trained,” he explained to Village Voice. “The only cuisine where that doesn’t apply is with Asian food, where they have their own techniques but not scientific recipes. Information is passed down from within the restaurant and from one generation to the next. With Korean food, you’ll have dishes that everyone is familiar with, but in every restaurant, they taste different.”

The Danji concept embodies Kim’s preference for serving small plates instead of entrées.

“It’s a lot more difficult [to do small dishes],” Kim explained. “The average courses for a two-top is five to six, not including dessert. In a normal restaurant, it’s four dishes at most. Sometimes I’ll have two people eating 11 dishes. It’s more difficult because plating takes time. But for me, this is the way I like to eat. I’d rather taste seven to eight items than two or three. A portion size [at Danji] is eight bites with four bites per person.”

After the first week of the Mobile Kitchen’s tour, the menu will transition to more traditional dishes like Bibimbap, Bulgogi and Japchae that promote the sense of physical wellbeing and spiritual harmony that knowledgeable diners have come to associate with Korean cuisine. The dishes will be prepared by New York City Korean restaurants Kum Kang San, Kang Suh, Don’s BOGAM, B-Bap, Kunjip and several others.

In addition to sampling some of New York’s most authentic Korean cuisine, diners will also have the opportunity to win a range of prizes by submitting photos of themselves in front of the Mobile Kitchen and sharing their love of Korean food via the Taste of Korea NYC Facebook Page.

For additional information on the Korean Food Foundation’s Mobile Kitchen, including daily locations, menu items, participating restaurants and chefs and photo submission contest, visit www.Facebook.com/TasteofKoreaNYC.

Fashion designer Sue Wong used her historic Hollywood home, The Cedars, to showcase her My Fair Lady-inspired Fall 2011 Collection Friday as part of Los Angeles Fashion Week. Wong’s models roamed the estate in Wong’s creations as guests enjoyed a champagne brunch.

Wong’s collection features ornate gowns and cocktail dresses in rich satin, flowing chiffons and laces, embellished with Edwardian inspired beadwork, intricate embroidery and delicate applique with skirts of organza and ostrich feather. The scene was intended to evoke Sir Cecil Beaton’s costume in the racetrack scene of the 1964 film starring Audrey Hepburn in the title role.

Beautiful, romantic and elegant pieces in the collection “can transform any woman into a goddess, enchantress and duchess,” said Wong.

Guests did their part by donning their favorite ascot hats and Sue Wong’s gowns. Actress Tippi Hedren attended in a fedora to suggest Professor Higgins.

“I think the collection is probably one of the most beautiful in the whole world no matter how long you go back in the history of fashion,” said Hedren. “Sue Wong has such an air of elegance, glamour; everything you could possibly want.”

“I believe that clothing has the ability to empower and transform a woman into the fantasy of her choice,” says Wong. Her motto — “Beauty. Magic. Transformation.” — echoes the film’s premise in which a ‘guttersnipe’ flower seller is transformed by Higgins into an elegant lady.

Sue Wong is known for designs that echoes period styles while achieving a fresh, modern spirit. They are sold in fine boutiques and department stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom and in more than 27 countries globally. Sponsors for the event included Fiji Water, PAMA Liqueur, South Coast Winery Resort and Spa, Napoleon Perdis, Hair By Sheena Mi Lee, Michael Antonio, Izze Sparkling Juice, What’s Ur Bag, Ardell, and China Glaze.

Sue Wong was born in rural communist China in 1949. Her family first escaped to Hong Kong before managing to immigrate to the United States in 1955.

While growing up in California she had her sights set on a career in fine arts. She won a scholarship to the prestigious California Institute of the Arts after high school, but her parents kept her from attending because they wanted her to become an accountant or a teacher.

Ultimately, however, Wong defied her parents’ wishes and enrolled at Los Angeles Technical College. Within a month she won a scholarship from Arpeja, a hip fashion company for younger women. Within a year, when she was only 18, Wong ended her schooling to take a full-time job as a designer in Arpeja’s sportswear division.

At first she found the business to be a nightmare. In 1970, after only about a year at Arpeja, Wong decided to start up her own company with a girlfriend.

“I wanted to escape the horrors of the garment business and find my own personal style,” Wong recalled. She soon learned that running a new fashion house was even tougher than working for an existing fashion house. In 1974 she returned to Arpeja as head designer for Young Edwardian. That job required her to do five lines a year with over 100 dresses for each collection. “The work load is heavy but the designing part comes easy,” she said.

After she became lead designer in 1977, Arpeja’s sales jumped to $51 million from only $3 million in 1974.

At the time Wong claimed that it didn’t bother her to be designing anonymously for Arpeja.

“I don’t care [because] I think most of the people in the garment business are hustlers and whores,” she said.

But by 1979 Wong decided to go independent again with her own name on the company signage. Her business strategy was to do the designing in Los Angeles but have the labor-intensive work down in China. That proved to be the right strategy for keeping the company profitable.

Wong is married to artist and textile designer Ralph Homann who eventually ended up staying home to raise their two children. “He’s very good at it,” Wong said. “Better than I would be.”