Deborah Chai Garris, a half-Korean, half-black model, walked the runway for over 70 luxury fashion houses in Europe from 1976 to 1985, following her prolific modeling career in New York. / Courtesy of Deborah Chai Garris



By Kang Hyun-kyung



Korean-American Hye-rim Park, who made a splendid runway debut for the Prada and Miu Miu shows during the 2005 Milan Fashion Week, is widely regarded as the first model of Korean descent to make a mark on the global high-fashion scene.



Contrary to popular belief, however, Park is not the first internationally recognized runway model with Korean roots.



In the 1970s ― three decades before Park generated a buzz in Korea for her meteoric rise as one of the most in-demand models on the global high-fashion scene ― there was a half-Korean, half-black model who had walked the runway for dozens of luxury fashion houses in Europe, years after her prolific modeling career in New York.



Deborah Lee Garris, better known by her nickname "The Black Oriental" for her exotic half-Korean, half-black appearance, was a trailblazer believed to be the first model of Korean descent to walk for major fashion shows.



From the 1970s till the mid-1980s, Garris, whose modeling name was "Chai," had been a sought-after model and enjoyed career highs.



Garris walked for over 70 luxury fashion houses, including Gucci, Mila Schon, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent and Missoni, since she made her European runway debut in Milan, Italy, in 1976, years after she debuted as a model in New York.



How could such a successful model on the global high-fashion scene have been completely forgotten by Koreans?



In an email interview with The Korea Times, Garris, now 63, offered some clues regarding her fame being lost in Korea and said she had no opportunities to mingle with Koreans back in the 1970s and 1980s.



"During those years, there were no Korean models that I knew of. The well-known Asian models who were working at the same time as I was were Japanese and Chinese," she said. "I was always wondering in the back of my mind what it would be like to work in Korea … I always wanted and still want to visit Korea and experience the fashion and beauty industries which I so admire."



Deep in her heart, however, Garris said she had worried about how Koreans would react to her being half-black. "Back in the day I was concerned about how I might be received as a black Korean model who didn't speak the language. I truly wish my mother had taught me Korean, because if she had I'd be able to feel even more connected to the culture and this significant part of my identity."





Deborah Chai Garris wearing dress by Gianni Versace in 1984 / Courtesy of Deborah Chai Garris



Kim Dong-su, a professor at Dongduk Women's University in Seoul, said Korean models in the 1970s and 1980s were unable to reach the global fashion scene, partly because of the overseas travel restriction which was only lifted in 1989.



"It was difficult for models here to travel abroad freely because of the travel restrictions," Kim said. "So it's natural that (Garris) couldn't meet Korean models in Europe during those years."



Kim, a former model before she assumed a teaching job at the university in the late 1990s, said she has never heard of Garris but what she had achieved is seen as something remarkable.



Kim said the Big 4 fashion weeks ― namely Milan, Paris, London and New York ― are dream runways for all models. "Every Korean model would be dying for the opportunities to walk the Big 4 runways. It's like football players playing in the English Premier League or Germany's Bundesliga," she said.



It was in recent years Deborah Garris began to dream of exploring Korea and its fashion industry.



She and her husband with their three children have lived in Switzerland since 1993, years after she retired from modeling in the mid-1980s and left Milan to start a family in the United States.



In Switzerland, she made friends with Koreans and was exposed to a flurry of Korean culture.



Over the past four years, she said she watched over 60 Korean dramas in the original language with subtitles.



"I've felt connected to the culture through its cuisine. My mother taught me how to make kimchi, japchae and bulgogi. It wasn't until recent years that I realized how inside I feel very Korean. I've been able to notice this in my relationships with my Korean friends," Garris said.



"(When she and her siblings were kids) my mother was mostly concerned about us learning English and assimilating into American society. But for me it was a huge loss because I think language is an immediate cultural bridge and unfortunately my connection to Korean culture is limited by this factor."



'GI baby'



Born in New York in 1955, a year after her Korean mother Moon-ja and her African-American father Benjamin Garris went to the United States at the end of his tour of duty in Korea, Deborah Garris was a photogenic child.



She was tall and slim and everybody encouraged her to consider becoming a model.



She followed their advice and took a course at the Barbizon Modeling and Acting School in Dallas, Texas, and learned how to apply makeup, do her hair and walk the runway under the guidance of professional models.



Her career break came in 1972 when she graduated from high school in Texas as she went to New York to earn money before attending college.





Deborah with her father Benjamin Garris / Courtesy of Deborah Chai Garris