Not for Sale

Curator: Jussara Lee

Profession: Fashion Designer

Location: New York, NY

About The Curator

About Jussara Lee

A native Brazilian of Korean heritage, Jussara Lee was born in Sao Paulo in 1967 and relocated to the United States to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Upon graduating in 1991, she began her career selling to Big Drop, Barneys, and Bergdorf Goodman followed by international distribution to Japan's Isetan and Hong Kong's Joyce. She has split the last two decades mastering design on a large scale and custom-made, hand-tailored clothes. Her first flagship store was in SoHo and she moved west to its current location in the Meatpacking District in 2001.

With her trademark simplicity and understated elegance, Jussara Lee delivers a much needed respite from the relentless trends and obsessive ostentation too familiar today. Jussara Lee creates with a purity of thought and design, producing timeless pieces that emphasize fit with fine custom tailoring and quality fabrics. Discarding pretense and artifice, she infuses her work with dignity and her classic creations are animated with a modern originality that transcends category and period. Her pieces start with a subtle sophistication that radiates charisma; they are substantial in their nod to history but also invigorating with their fresh take on tradition. A refined sensibility flows throughout her work, and her unaffected approach and graceful shapes highlight the impeccable form of her clothes.

As Lee's passions run beyond the world of fashion, she continues to educate her community on the importance of sustainability from both a business and environmental perspective, working on a small scale while making a great impact.

About The Collection

About Not for Sale

"A work of art doesn't have to be explained."
-Louise Bourgeois

Curator Q&A

Q&A with

1. What are your thoughts on the intersection of art and fashion?
I believe art and fashion have become, intrinsically, one consumer good.

2. How does art influence your collection?
When creativity inspires me to communicate, in my case, beauty.

3. Who are your favorite artists?
Prints and drawings by Ellsworth Kelly, installations by Fred Sandback, sculptures by Tim Noble and Sue Webster, Cai Guo-Qiang's gun powder drawings, collages by Robert Rauschenberg, Joan Mitchell's paintings, Louise Bourgeois's everything.

4. What is your favorite art space?
Storm King Sculpture Garden and the Dia Beacon.

5. If you weren't designing clothes, what would you be doing?
I would be a writer.