Sandra Oh attracted much attention online for wearing a jacket with Black Lives Matter written on it in Korean during the virtual 2020 Emmy Awards.
The purple jacket was a collaboration between the Korean American “Killing Eve” actress and the Los Angeles brand KORELIMITED, according to BuzzFeed.
“After George Floyd’s death and the protests that followed, I felt that as an Asian-American, a Korean-American person, I wanted to express my support for the Black community in a way that felt personal to my community,” Oh told Vogue.
Oh said she had her stylist, Elizabeth Saltzman, contact KORELIMITED designer Matthew Kim, asking to collaborate for the project that supports the Black Lives Matter movement and to honor the actress’ Korean heritage.
In the interview, Oh explained the color of the jacket and the Korean characters written on it, which is not a direct translation of Black Lives Matter.
“It’s in a royal purple colour – which is a super Korean colour and brings a certain mindset for me – and it says ‘Black Lives Are Precious’ in Korean writing, because the literal translation of Black Lives Matter is impossible in Korean,” she said. “The characters have to be read top to bottom, right to left, [a traditional way of writing Korean script] and there are dashes, or taegukgi, lifted from the Korean flag, which represent celestial bodies and the natural elements and all of that good stuff. And then on the right there’s a mugunghwa [hibiscus], the national flower of Korea.”
The jacket comes with a norigae on the sleeve, which is usually “tied to the waistband of hanboks,” the traditional costume of Korea, as explained by KORELIMITED on Instagram.
“Inspired by the hanbok, the neck is lined with dongjeong, a white thin collar that folds above the main collar,” KORELIMITED added. “Dongjeongs are only white and a part of all traditional hanbok tops.”
Oh also partnered her Black Lives Matter jacket with a purple face mask.
The limited-edition reversible cropped bomber jacket is available at KORELIMITED’s store for $375 in four different sizes: small, medium, large and extra-large.
Oh was nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in “Killing Eve.”
Images via KORELIMITED
