Yoon Ahn

Yoon Ahn (born November 21, 1976) is an American businesswoman and fashion designer. She studied graphic design at Boston University and graduated in 1998. She is known as the creative director of her brand Ambush and as Dior Homme's jewelry design director. Ahn is currently based in Tokyo, Japan.

Biography

Before the final launch of Ambush, Ahn founded multiple design companies. After graduating from college, Ahn co-founded the Ambush Design Company in 2002, a creative design organization where she created original album covers for her husband, Verbal, and other performing artists. In 2003, Ahn moved to Tokyo with her family where she and her husband laid the groundwork for their future jewelry line. Shortly afterward, in 2004, Ahn co-founded jewelry brand Antonio Murphy & Astro. She designed couture jewelry and accessory pieces for hip-hop contemporaries under the Antonio Murphy & Astro line.

Ahn started to gain recognition within the fashion industry as mainstream celebrities such Kanye West famously donned her AMBUSH 'POW!' pendant, among other creations. Through such high-profile connections, Ahn was introduced to other designers including Virgil Abloh and Kim Jones. In 2008, Ahn and Verbal officially launched their joint high fashion jewelry label Ambush. In 2018, Ahn was appointed as the new Dior Homme jewelry line designer by then Dior creative director Kim Jones. She made her official debut at the Spring/Summer Paris men's fashion week.

Ahn has stated that she does not have a unique fashion genre that she adheres to. Her fascination with pop art references can be seen throughout her designs for both Ambush and Dior Homme. Bold, gold, and/or metal jewelry mixed with themes referencing American and Tokyo hip-hop fashion styles remain consistent within her avant-garde designs.

Background

Ahn's father was in the military and her family moved often within the United States and abroad. She spent most of her childhood in Seattle. Ahn first became fascinated with the fashion industry while perusing mainstream fashion magazines while working part-time at her local public library. She became interested in the New York downtown fashion scene through these magazines before later deciding to commit to a graphic design major. Despite having no traditional training in fashion design, Ahn rose in the ranks of the fashion world through her design background and the experiences garnered through high-profile connections and friendships. While working on Ambush with her husband, Verbal, in Japan, Ahn handled the PR side of the business for the label Billionaire Boys Club, a streetwear brand founded by Pharrell Williams and Nigo. During that time (2008–2011), she worked with Williams and Kim Jones while executing her Ambush collaboration with Louis Vuitton in the making of Playbutton, Ahn's design of a wearable music player, garnering her more attention within the fashion industry. In addition to acting as creative director of Ambush, Ahn continues to operate as a member of her creative consultancy alongside her husband, having partnered up and collaborated in the past with brands and e-commence businesses like Beats by Dre.

Ambush

Ambush, before officially debuting in 2008, gained initial international attention from the famous Ambush "Pow!" pendant. Ambush became an immediate success soon after its official launch. The brand is known for its avant-garde designs that are inspired by pop art and Tokyo street fashion. Jewelry designs often include heavy and bold motifs as seen in the brand's collection of gold chainmail accessories and line of earrings re-inspired from everyday objects. Only a year after its initial launch, Ahn's Ambush quickly garnered collaboration partnerships with major brands such as A Bathing Ape and later with Reebok. After launching in 2008, Ambush collaborated with A Bathing Ape in creating the Kaiju "Strange Beast" Collection. The collection featured a line of clothing, accessories, and footwear that featured Japanese-inspired designs of the classic A Bathing Ape half-shark, half-alligator prints along with Ahn and Verbal's experimental fashion influences. As creative director, Ahn often designs new pieces to fit within Ambush seasonal themes, as seen in their "Nomad" collection. Starting in 2012, Ambush collaborated with international brand Reebok where the brand released two special designs of the classic Reebok Pump Fury HLS sneakers. While the brand initially started as a couture jewelry line, Ambush expanded its couture offerings to encompass unisex high-fashion streetwear that complemented the line's jewelry in 2015. In that same year, the brand premiered its autumn/winter 2015 collection internationally for the first time in Hong Kong and Paris. In 2015, Ahn and Verbal simultaneously debuted on the Business of Fashion's list for the Top 500 People Influencing the Fashion Industry for 4 more years following their initial ranking in 2015. In the following year, Ambush debuted its first flagship store in Tokyo. In 2017, Ambush was one of the final top 8 contestants in the competition for the LVMH Prize. In 2018, Ambush made a runway debut at Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo.

Ambush holds a history of collaborations with major brands such as Louis Vuitton, Off-White, Gentle Monster, Bulgari, Sacai, and Converse. Some of the most recent collaborations in 2020 were Bulgari Serpenti Through the Eyes of Ambush (2020) and Ambush x Converse Chuck 70.

Dior Homme

Ahn was appointed as the Dior Homme jewelry designer in 2018 by previous Dior creative director Kim Jones. Her initial jewelry design showcases for Dior were at the pre-Fall show in 2018 and the Spring/Summer 2019 show. When speaking about the themes of the pre-Fall show premiering in Tokyo, Ahn stated "It will be very Japanese, but very Dior and very futuristic." At the SS19 Dior Homme show in Paris, Ahn walked the Dior x Kaws-inspired runway with Jones where they both made their Dior debuts.

Collaborations

Yoon Ahn, under her brand Ambush, has collaborated with multiple brands, including A Bathing Ape, Nike, Off-White, Louis Vuitton, Dr. Martens, Sacai, and Colette. In 2015, Ahn made an appearance in ASAP Rocky's " L$D" music video.

Following a number of Ambush x Nike Dunk High colorways, the partnership between Ahn's brand and the sportswear powerhouse continued with an iterations of the Air Adjust Force "White/Black."

In June of 2022, Ambush and Zellerfeld have united to fashion a brand new 3D-printed 100S Clog that is being released both in physical form as well as an NFT.

Awards and honors

* Ambush's Verbal & Yoon on the Hypebeast 100 — 2014–2017
* Ambush's Verbal & Yoon Ahn on Business of Fashion 500 — October 2016
* Yoon Ahn listed Vogue Japan's Rising Star of 2017
* Yoon and Verbal listed on Vogue Forces of Fashion

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahn, Yoon
1976 births
Living people
21st-century American businesspeople
American fashion businesspeople
American people of Korean descent
American women fashion designers
Artists from Seattle
Boston University alumni
Businesspeople from Seattle