11 JULY 2002
South Korean designer Ji Haye has already earned herself something of a reputation for pushing the fashion envelope. The sculptured gown made up of footballs which she sent down the runway at January’s couture shows in honour of her homeland’s role as World Cup co-host being a case in point. She went one step further this week, literally, in showing a pants suit embellished with an extra leg.

The three-legged trousers, which had a silk and cotton calf, complete with frilly gold lace sock and shoe, protruding from the knee, were intended as a “surrealistic visual pun” according to the designer’s spokeswoman, Valerie Lecomte.

“She got the idea from an invitation to a porcelain exhibition which showed a Chinese girl sitting on an armchair with her leg on the arms of the chair,” Ms Lecomte explained.

Ji Haye, a workaholic designer who spends 20 hours a day in her studio in the French capital’s red light district of Pigalle, is the only Korean to have her own shows in Paris. This is the seventh collection she has presented.

Although her designs have caused raised eyebrows in the past, backing the quirky attention grabbers is a range of solid, carefully sculptured daywear. Among them are suits which have drawn comparisons with the master of the tailoring himself, Yves Saint Laurent.