Photo credit: Nakeya B.

She’s taking over women’s clothing design, one stitch at a time.

Name: Kim Phan

Follow Her Movement: yumikim.com // twitter.com/yumikim // iheartyumikim.com

Perusing the racks of clothes inside the Yumi Kim flagship store in New York City’s Lower East Side feels similar to walking into a best friend’s coveted closet. From the sea of feminine floral printed dresses to the sweet smell of scented candles, it’s a clothes hound’s dream come true. Only at Yumi Kim, dropping dime guarantees that you won’t go home empty handed. Thank the contemporary line’s owner, Kim Phan, for not only opening the stylishly decorated boutique in 2008, but also creating the vintage-inspired prints that make up her collection. Established in 2004, Kim brought her timeless pieces to the downtown Manhattan space after painstakingly perfecting her designs and colors. “I have a talent at picking colors,” Kim reveals. “The trick is to go on a first reaction. I have an eye for what makes people happy. That first reaction, a gasp at the first look of the design is what makes me excited.”

Kim, 30, studied economics at San Diego State University, but her flair for fashion was an innate talent never suppressed. The Sacramento, Calif. native would sew clothes as a teen and even designed prom dresses. Yet her move from the Left Coast to The Big Apple after college didn’t begin with a glamorous fashion gig as one would expect. Kim, who’s of Vietnamese descent, scored a gig as music industry executive L.A. Reid’s personal assistant. While the perks of the job were abundant, the doors of the fashion world were swinging open in her direction. As a result, Kim enrolled in classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology to learn the fundamentals of garment fit and spec’ing, two aspects she deems are an important part of clothing design.

Since founding Yumi Kim six years ago, Kim has traveled the world, mainly Asia, to work directly with the factory that assists in bringing her creative vision to life. In just a few short weeks, the women’s wear designer will be launching her Spring 2010 line, but as is the case in fashion, she’ll already be working on developments for what’s to come in 2011. “In fashion you’re always working a year ahead,” she explains. The self-proclaimed “geek who’s designer chic’s” tireless work ethic has been duly noted. More times than not, her delicate dresses and flowing tops grace the pages of fashion magazines like Life & Style Weekly. Kim’s royal blue NYLA romper was recently featured in its “Who Wears It Best” section. So what’s the secret to her evident success? “I took a gamble,” says Kim, who named her collection after her Yorkshire terrier Yumi. “It’s been hard, but I’m making it.”-Georgette Cline

Photo credit: Nakeya B.