THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2020 ST 3Arena
HIGHLIGHTS FROM TMAGAZINE.COMThe tea garden — a typically modest plot
dedicated to the growing of herbs and flow-
ers for steeping — has its roots in ancient
herbalist traditions and helped lay the foun-
dation for modern botany. According to “The
Gardener’s Companion to Medicinal Plants,”
a 2016 guide to home remedies, the study of
herbal medicine can be traced back 5,000
years, to the Sumerians of southern
Mesopotamia. Modern scholars believe the
Sumerians used what they grew in medi-
cinal preparations. And in England, says
Timothy d’Offay, a tea importer and the
founder of Postcard Teas in London, tea
gardens have their origins in the work of
17th-century apothecaries. “The apothe-
caries’ focus was on the use of herbs in
healing,” Mr. d’Offay says. “It was really thebeginnings of modern medicine.”
Now, in this time of uncertainty, as we
cleave to small, controllable comforts, the
idea of the medicinal tea garden is taking
root once again. Easy to cultivate on a win-
dowsill or balcony, or in any garden bed, and
yielding ingredients more potent than typi-
cal store-bought equivalents (specimens
cultivated in artificial terrains tend to
produce less flavor), these plots of herbs and
edible flowers offer a chance to reconnect
with nature and a soothing balm for our
collective anxieties.
For the writer and editor Deborah Needle-
man, formerly of T, the joy of the tea garden
is horticultural and aromatic. “Growing and
blending teas extends the gardening season
in that it allows me to be with my plants allthrough the year,” says Ms. Needleman, who
nurtures herbs in her garden in the Hudson
Valley. Here, she shares tips for establishing
and harvesting your own tea garden. More
at tmagazine.com.AIMEE FARRELLHow to Plant
While it is possible to grow your own black
tea in Northern climates, without the
warmth and abundant sunlight the plant
needs to thrive, the effort is unlikely to be
worth the negligible yield. A herbal tea gar-
den, by comparison, is far more resilient and
manageable, especially if you’re in a city
apartment. Where you position your plants
is crucial, though. And if you’re planting in
pots, make sure they have drainage holes or
stones at the base.How to Harvest
“The more you cut, the more they grow,” Ms.
Needleman says. Aim to harvest leafy varie-
ties (mint, lemon verbena, lemon balm,
thyme) before they flower: “Once a plant
blooms, the leaves lose freshness and be-
come bitter.” But gather the floral herbs
you’d like to dry (rose, lavender or chamo-
mile) as soon as they start to bloom.
How to Dry
In the spring and summer you can snip
plants from your garden and put them
straight into your teapot, but as the colder
nights draw in, it’s worth shoring up supplies
by drying what you collect. To dry, store your
crop in a cool place with good air circulation
and away from sunlight.MAKING ITReading the Leaves: Creating Your Own Herbal Tea Garden
The Belgian painter Luc Tuymans is best
known for his uncanny renderings of existing
images. Often working from photographs or
film, Mr. Tuymans does not paint straight re-
productions, but disquieting versions of charac-
ters and scenes from cultural memory. His
work “The Secretary of State” (2005), in the
Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection,
is a desaturated and tightly cropped close-up of
Condoleezza Rice, squinting as though she has
been caught with the sun in her eyes. An exhi-
bition of his new work at David Zwirner Hong
Kong that has been postponed twice — first
because of the protests there and then again
because of the pandemic — is now scheduled to
open Tuesday. Below are Mr. Tuyman’s answers
to T’s artist’s questionnaire. More at
tmagazine.com. JAMESON FITZPATRICKWhat is your day like?
Well, it’s changed. My wife and I cook more. We
get up a bit later than normal and also stay up
later — we read a lot, do some research — so
mostly go to bed around 3 or 3:30 a.m., and get
up in the morning around 9 or 9:30. The most
horrible time for me is actually when I have to
figure out what I’m going to paint. That can
take months, trying to figure out and assemble
the imagery — which I’ve had time to do be-cause of this lockdown. Over here it’s opening
up a bit more than in New York, so I’ve crawled
back into my studio. And this is the way I work:
I really premeditate, so that when I start paint-
ing I don’t have to think about it anymore.
When you start a new piece, where do you begin?
Breaking my head. What would be relevant?
What could be interesting? What could be
important? What could be meaningful?
What’s the first piece you ever made?
It was when I was about 7 years old. In primary
school, they asked all the kids to make a draw-
ing about their summer vacation. I was fasci-
nated by the people who collected the garbage
on my street, so I made this drawing in color
pencil, even with some kind of perspective
already, of this big metal truck and these guys
in white aprons. I drew that and underneath
wrote: “My Big Vacation.”ARTIST’S QUESTIONNAIREHe Paints From Memory
FUJIO EMURA (TEA GARDENS); MIEKE VERBIJLEN (LUC TUYMANS)When the K-pop band Blackpink released
the music video for their song “How You
Like That” in June, fans began asking about
the group’s outfits, which appeared at once
traditional and contemporary. Who was the
designer behind Jennie’s cropped pink
jacket, they wanted to know, and what in-
spired the look?
In the past few years, similar design con-
cepts have been spotted on members of K-
pop groups like BTS, SHINee and Exo.
They are fresh takes on a centuries-old form
of Korean dress called a hanbok. Scroll
through the #hanbokstagram hashtag on
Instagram and you’ll find thousands of
posts with updated looks.
While a hanbok — which usually consists
of a jeogori ( jacket), paired with baji
(pants) for men and a chima (skirt) for
women — is generally reserved for holidays
and special occasions, contemporary de-
signers have been reimagining it.
Some modern hanbok brands have been
boosted by K-pop stars who command de-
voted stan armies. Kim Danha, of the label
Danha, said her brand’s site saw nearly
4,000 visitors a day after her jacket ap-
peared on Jennie in the Blackpink video.
Leesle Hwang, the designer of the brand
Leesle, saw an increase in sales after Jimin
of BTS wore one of her hanbok ensembles at
the 2018 Melon Music Awards in Seoul. “It’s
incredible how many people got to know
Leesle through that one appearance,” she
said. Another brand, A Nothing, gained
some 8,000 followers after Jungkook, an-
other BTS member, wore its clothes.
“The reason why people became inter-
ested in hanboks, especially outside Korea,
is this growth in soft power as demonstrat-
ed by K-pop,” said Kan Ho-sup, a professor
of textile art and fashion design at Hongik
University.
In Korea, the style can be traced back to
the first century B.C., and was traditionally
made out of silk dyed in vivid colors. (Be-
fore the advent of Western clothing in Ko-
rea, all clothing was simply a hanbok; the
word itself means “Korean clothing.”)
According to Minjee Kim, a dress histori-
an in San Francisco, Western clothing com-
pletely replaced the hanbok in the early
1980s. Almost concurrently, there were de-
signers incorporating traditional Korean el-
ements into Western designs.
Ms. Kim said the designer Lee Young-hee
was the first designer to transcend the
boundaries of hanbok design. At Paris
Fashion Week in 1993, the designer sent
bare-shouldered models down the runway
wearing hanboks without a jeogori.
Around the same time, the stylist SuhYounghee became interested in hanbok be-
cause she felt it could counter the industry’s
obsession with Western labels. She began
playing with hanbok conventions at Vogue
Korea, where she worked. In the February
2006 issue, she styled jokduri (traditional
coronets) on models with vibrantly dyed
hair, an image that defied any conventional-
ity the garment might convey. In 2014, she
helped start the Hanbok Advancement Cen-
ter, which leads programs on hanbok educa-
tion and funds related events.
In the early 2000s, the designer Kim
Young-Jin started rethinking the style’s tra-
dition while studying with Park Sun-young,
a master of hanbok needlework. Ms. Kim
learned about a type of traditional military
uniform worn by men during the Joseon dy-
nasty (1392-1897) called the Cheolik, and
recreated it as a midi-length wrap dress
with a V-shaped collar, tailored to fit the fe-
male form. “Just because something is in-
spired by the past doesn’t mean there’s no
creativity in it,” she said.
When images of the garment began circu-lating, other labels started creating similar
looks. Ms. Suh, who often collaborates with
Ms. Kim for high-end fashion photo shoots,
called the number of “copies” troubling.
“I’m not saying this because we’re close,
but Tchai Kim’s Cheolik one-piece marked a
new era of hanbok design,” Ms. Suh said.
After experimenting with leftover tex-
tiles at her parents’ bedding and curtains
shop, Ms. Hwang, of Leesle, began selling
her pieces online and eventually started
Sonjjang, a hanbok line focusing on what
she called “altered hanboks,” with lace and
frills, and shortened sleeves and skirt lines.
When Ms. Hwang began thinking about
creating hanboks for everyday wear, she
turned to the internet. A majority of tradi-
tional hanbok shops were, and still are, re-
luctant to stray from the expensive, ’70s-
style tailored-to-fit designs, but online com-
munities devoted to hanbok subcultures
were already discussing what changes they
wanted in the garment as early as the mid
2000s.
Taking their feedback into account, Ms.
Hwang founded Leesle in 2014, selling easy-
to-wash hanboks in a range of sizes. “I don’t
want to be exclusive,” Ms. Hwang said. Her
garments are more modestly priced than
their silk forebears, at under $200.
“It’s still uncommon to see people in mod-
ern hanbok,” Ms. Hwang said. “And while it
doesn’t need to be worn all the time, it can
become a basic item like a white T-shirt or
black pants.”
Kim Danha said she hoped those who en-
countered her brand came to appreciate
Danha’s environmental ethos. The label has
a focus on sustainability; 30 to 50 percent of
its fabrics are recycled polyester or organic
cotton.
“Sustainability and traditional Korean
design go well together because compared
to Western shapes, original hanbok designs
produce less scraps,” she said.Centuries-Old Korean Style Tweaked
The traditional hanbok is
embraced by K-pop stars and
adapted by designers.
By HAHNA YOONJennie, right, of the K-pop
band Blackpink, in an
updated hanbok by Danha.
After the band’s “How You
Like That” music video
debuted in June, Kim Danha
said her brand’s site saw
nearly 4,000 visitors a day..