fresh as the air

UPBRINGING —

lee nayoung was born in daejeon, south korea on july 23rd, 1997 to a lawyer father and a ballerina mother. her mother was actually reluctant to have kids but her father really wanted to start a family. a compromise was made with one child, and one child only. nayoung lived in daejeon for the first five years of her life before her father got offered a higher-paying position at a big-time law firm in california. her mother, desperate to get her dancing career off the local level, readily agreed to move to the city of angels.

thus, nayoung started her new life in the states. hoping to feel a sense of belonging within her neat cul-de-sac neighborhood and new judgmental peers, she begged her parents to let her pick an american name. she decided on nathalie and begun exclusively going by 'natty'.

soon, it became apparent that the career natty's mother so desired was not attainable. after copious amounts of failed auditions, her mother was all but forced to give up her chance of becoming a principal ballerina to focus on being a wife and mother instead. natty's mother resented being a stay at home mom and often times, that resentment trickled into her interactions with the young child. in response, natty began to favor her father more, who showered her endless love and attention despite his busy job.

even as a child, natty had an unflappable confidence. she laughed in the faces of her bullies, distracted her classmates with jokes and high energy, and proudly marched to the beat of her own drum. her father used to tease that natty would have made a great actress. truth was, her theatrical manner was unintentionally a way to capture the attention that she wasn't getting from her mother. the older woman did not realize that and instead was envious of how unapologetically herself the young girl was. the wedge between them got bigger.

to pair with her colorful personality, natty used her style as a way to express herself. she obsessed over fashion magazines and shopping was her favorite hobby. her father took note of her interests and bought natty her first sketchbook and sewing machine. these gifts opened up the world of fashion for her. she learned to sketch designs and started making her own clothes.

during her high school years, natty was known for being a drama queen. but not necessarily in the popular girl way, more like. . . a loud theatre kid way. while she never had an interest on being on stage, she utilized her stylish craft by doing the costumes for her school's theatre program.

by the time she was a teenager, her dynamic with her mother had morphed into a full-on greta gerwig film type of dynamic. . . think ladybird. ( and yes, natty has probably flung herself out of a moving car during an argument with her mom. ) they're mirrors of each other as the quote goes: her mother hates looking at natty and seeing all she could have been. so natty begins to look at her mother and sees all that she could become.

COLLEGE —

natty applied to several universities with a major in fashion design. her mother didn't approve of the creative field and wanted her to aim for something more concrete for better job security after college. naturally, natty didn't listen to her. she decided on parsons in new york city. even though it would be hard to be across the country from her father, she knew she couldn't stay in that house much longer without going insane.

she loved her time at parsons. as a side hustle, she worked as a personal shopper an influencer. she was surrounded by fashion and that was all that she ever wanted.

during her freshman year, natty's parents moved back to south korea so that her father could accept a law school professor position at snu. she spent her summers in between college at the new lee residence in seoul, though she missed los angeles greatly.

natty graduated from parsons in may 2019. she applied to various internships and jobs related to fashion in la, nyc, and seoul. she got a few offers but there was one that interested her the most — infinite entertainment. natty grew up loving k-pop and obsessing over how much fashion played a part in that world. from airport outfits to stage costumes, it seemed like a dream job. so, she happily accepted infinite's offer.

BLOOMING CAREER —

natty moved back in with her parents immediately after graduation. it was a rough adjustment, to say the least. a lot of her mannerisms had become americanized after seventeen years in the states and korea was very different culturally. to this day, she can still struggle with honorifics. not because she's being intentionally disrespectful but because she simply didn't grow up using them.

even worse, natty had to deal with living with her mother once again. . . her poor father. the dramatics of that household probably still haunts him at nights.

natty begun an internship at infinite in the styling department in the summer of 2019. she worked under various stylists, doing whatever the needed. the first year alone pretty much consisted of getting coffee and picking up clothes from various designers. but being bounced around meant that natty got the opportunity to work with a variety of infinite groups and soloists.

one can definitely find her in the halls of the company building with her signature pigtails, eclectic outfit, and humming off-key to her favorite song.

eventually, natty moved out of her family's home and it was honestly the best decision she could have made. now, she can control how much of her mother she has to deal with. her father still insists she come home at least once a week for a sunday family dinner, which she abides to.

work wise, things kept getting better and better. she was promoted to a styling assistant and by mid-2021, she started gaining trust from her higher ups and established a solid work ethic at infinite. this granted her the chance to start choosing which acts she wanted to help style. most times than not, natty ended up picking fleur despite being one of infinite's newer additions. she was just in love with the soloist's versatile concepts and wanted to contribute to that vision.

upon the soloist's request, she was promoted to become one of fleur's stylists in april 2022. that meant she was in charge of fleur's stage outfits for the huge infinite world tour but natty took on the big endeavor confidently.

CURRENTLY —

even though the tour is now over, natty still works full-time as fleur's stylist. it's been a year and a half since she first started and she still loves what she does.

in her free time, she considered the possibility of starting her own fashion line but she doesn't really have the head or patience for the business side of things. she just wants to make cute clothes.

TIDBITS

personality: passionate, histrionic, lighthearted, flighty, immature, charming, evasive, loyal

aesthetics: bright nail polish, glitter, fur coats, pigtails, silly sketches, sonny angels, glossy lips, jello shots, pom pom pens, loud laughter

is a leo... and it shows ! what's the point of life if not to be silly and hot

will disassociate if you call her nayoung. only her mother calls her that.

pan queen <3 as david rose once said: she likes the wine, not the label

definitely a words of affirmation girlie. give her compliments, tell her you value her, agree to take care of her if she was a worm. . . you get it.

uncomfortable with tears because she used to be super sensitive when she was little but was told not to be "so dramatic"

would have to know her very very well to know about the mommy issues ! she keeps that shit locked up behind a lot of humor

is definitely a multi stan and lover of both girl and boy groups

says "i'm just a girl" unironically and all the time

proud mommy of a speckled long haired dachshund named mcqueen ( named after her favorite designer ). he's four years old and just as dramatic as his mother