Fashion in the movie “Beef”: when fashion defines a class

Throughout the 10 episodes of “Beef”, the fashion comes as a metaphor for the difference in the two characters’ circumstances, while also recreating the ridiculous antics behind the perfect appearance of people and life.

Fashion in the movie “Beef”: when fashion defines a class

Beef revolves around the revenge story of two strangers. Danny Cho – a man of Korean descent who is facing the reality of poverty, is ready to do anything to earn money to bring his parents back to America. Amy Lau – a successful businesswoman with a perfect cover, is making a purchase agreement with the owner of Forster’s, and at the same time has a psychological struggle with her husband’s family.

Both Amy and Danny were standing on the edge of tolerance. Then a car horn stoked all the fury, leading to a “domino effect” of escalating conflicts and contradictions. Designer Helen Huang was assigned to be in charge of beef costumes. She made a big contribution to bringing this series become a cultural phenomenon. Huang set out on a mission to build an authentic Asian wardrobe that fully portrays the spirit and lifestyle of southern California’s Asian Americans.

Amy has a seemingly perfect life alongside her sweet husband, lovely daughter, luxurious home, and successful career. True to the usual motif of successful women, Amy pursues a minimalist fashion style with a well-organized wardrobe.

The key to this style lies in the color palette. Black, white, gray, and beige tones … are fully utilized. Amy’s wardrobe is no exception to this rule. Amy made her debut in an ivory cable tie hat with a playfully raised brim, a quilted Tonlé coat, and a soft, neutral Eileen Fisher cashmere sweater. This outfit clearly contrasts with her aggressive and angry image earlier in the uncompromising auto fight on the streets of LA.

Following the climax of the war, Amy’s fashion also changed. She appeared new with a bleached blonde bob with a “power suit”: a sleeveless, black Proenza Schouler striped dress with fringe. Monochromatic outfits and signature octagonal glasses are Amy’s defining features. This style shows freedom, and liberality, simple but still outstanding.

The idea of a contradiction between a chaotic, complicated character combined with a minimalist fashion style is effectively applied. This has highlighted Amy’s contrast in the way she shows her true self and ideal inner self.

Danny is a grumpy man stuck in negative thoughts and a financial crisis. He always tormented himself with guilt and incompetence for not being able to give his parents a better life.

Danny admits he’s too old to buy new clothes. That’s why the male lead always shows up with old DKNY shirts, V-neck t-shirts, and old black Calvin Klein or DKNY pants, plus a 1999-style belt. Image of the typical Danny for the boys at the club “K-town” (roughly translated: Korean street), which the Asian immigrant community in Los Angeles frequented.

However, “ Danny understands what he is revealing to the world and cares about how he presents himself in the workplace,” shared Helen Huang. Simply put, Danny is poor and a bit odd. His clothing is largely made up of Goodwill and his home clothes are standard in the western part of LA. Danny’s image mirrored the characteristics of middle-class, or even lower-class Asian men: comfortable basketball shorts, a plain white t-shirt, a tank top, and a pair of slippers.

Danny’s functional, often bundled t-shirts and zip-up jackets in gray or blue and his shabby EI Segundo apartment contrast with modern, chic fashion and artful home. Amy’s art. This is an important and divisible point of difference between Asian communities in the US and their place in the social context here.

The character George (played by Joseph Lee) is Amy’s husband, a housewife father, and the son of a Japanese-American artist. George is an active artist who loves to keep a grateful and optimistic diary he chooses to ignore his wife’s misfortunes.

George is handsome and stylish with his hair neatly combed and comfortable clothes from Japanese brands like Kapital, Batoner, WTAPS, or Nanamica… “ Asian men love to dress up – that’s another point where I wanted to show it off in the movie”, Huang shared, “George was my chance to illustrate how Asian men care about their looks and have very interesting ways of dressing and dressing. “.

Unlike Amy Lau, housewife Naomi (Ashley Park) likes to gossip and use clothes to compete for a spot on Calabasas Style magazine’s “People to Watch” list.

Huang drew inspiration for Naomi’s outfits from influential Asian Americans like Aimee Song or Chriselle Lim. At the same time, the designer tries to avoid costume similarities with Ashley’s previous Mindy character in Emily in Paris. Naomi’s clothes mostly come from famous brands for influencers like Alo Yoga and Self Portrait.

” She’s not as creative as Amy or Fumi,” says Huang. She is not one to dress very boldly in any way. Naomi creates her look according to the weight of her social status while using her iconic handbags and accessories as accents.”

Not Amy or Naomi, Fumi (Patti Yasutake) – George’s mother is the one with the most outstanding taste and fashion style of the Beef movie. The image of a powerful, sharp mother-in-law shows up in a black and white polka dot dress by Junya Watanabe or the costumes of Issey Miyake in the early 80s, Yohji Yamamoto, and classic CDG.

Fumi maintains a contrasting aesthetic with the modern minimalism of her Asian daughter-in-law. This made clear the different ways both strong women used to control themselves and their complicated lives: the blunt, thorny side; one side is gentle and thorough.

The sense of class and status in Beef is focused on integrating throughout, portraying a true social picture where people care and choose how they present themselves to the world. Here, fashion not only has the power to reflect personal identity, and cultural background but is even a tool to distinguish class.